WHO And The United States Highlight Handling COVID-19, China Calls Always Open And Transparent

Illustration of COVID-19 in China. (Wikimedia Commons/Painjet)

JAKARTA - China on Thursday defended its steps to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, after US President Joe Biden voiced concern and the World Health Organization (WHO) said Beijing had not reported deaths from the virus.

WHO emergency director Mike Ryan said on Wednesday that Chinese officials lacked data in some areas, the most critical statement from the UN agency to date.

China canceled strict COVID controls last month following protests by residents, ignoring policies that have protected its 1.4 billion population from the virus over three years.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular press conference in Beijing China had been transparently and quickly sharing COVID data with WHO, saying "China's epidemic situation can be controlled".

"The fact has proven that China is always in accordance with the principles of legality, timeliness, openness and transparency, establishing close communication, sharing information and data relevant to WHO on time," Mao said.

Chinese officials and experts outlined the latest situation on Thursday in an online meeting with WHO and its member states, the National Health Commission and Chinese diplomats said.

China reported one new COVID-19 death on land on Wednesday, compared to five deaths the day before, bringing the official death toll to 5,259.

Mike Ryan, WHO's director of emergencies, said in media briefings that current figures published from China represent less than the number of hospitalizations, ICU hospitalizations and in particular in terms of deaths, saying Beijing's definition of COVID-related deaths is too narrow.

Hours later, US President Joe Biden voiced concern about China's handling of the COVID outbreak that filled hospitals and flooded several funeral homes.

"They are very sensitive. When we give input, they are not very open," Biden told reporters.

With one of the lowest official COVID deaths in the world, China is routinely accused of not reporting for political reasons.

In December, WHO said it had not received data from China about new COVID hospitalizations since Beijing's policy changes.

In its latest weekly report, the WHO said China reported 218,019 new weekly COVID cases on January 1, adding that the gap in the data may have been caused by authorities having difficulty calculating cases.

It is known, the method of calculating deaths due to COVID varies in various countries since the pandemic broke out in Wuhan City, China at the end of 2019.

Chinese health officials say only pneumonia-induced deaths and respiratory failure in virus-affected patients are classified as deaths from COVID.

Meanwhile, disease experts outside China said the approach missed other widely recognized types of fatal COVID complications, ranging from blood clots to heart attacks, sepsis and kidney failure.

International health experts estimate at least 1 million COVID-related deaths could occur in China this year. Meanwhile, UK-based health data company Airfinity estimates that around 9,000 people in China may die every day from COVID.