WHO says Covid deaths in China ‘heavily underreported’

The World Health Organization has repeatedly voiced concern that China's official statistics are not showing the true impact of its current surge in Covid cases.

Elderly patients with Covid-19 symptoms receive intravenous drips at the emergency ward of a hospital in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province.

The WHO reiterated Wednesday the need for China to share more data on its explosive Covid outbreak, while praising Washington's "radical transparency".

"WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported from China," its emergencies director Michael Ryan told reporters.

In contrast, he hailed the cooperation of authorities in the United States, where the new Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 is spreading rapidly.

He blamed Beijing's narrow definition of what constitutes a Covid death, and also pointed to "the need for doctors in the public health system to be encouraged.

"There's been radical transparency on behalf of the United States in terms of engaging with the WHO regarding the data and the impact of that data," he said.

In China, meanwhile, Ryan warned that despite increased collaboration, "we still do not have adequate information to make a full comprehensive risk assessment."