China has not updated its daily Covid reports for three days, adding to global concerns that the information vacuum is masking the true impact of the world’s biggest outbreak.
The last time the country published its daily update on the Covid situation, including cases, though they no longer made sense due to the reversal of frequent tests, and the number of seriously ill patients and deaths, was on Monday. While there has been no official notification on the cessation, health officials said last month that China would switch to monthly reporting as part of its reduction in virus management, without providing a specific date for the change.
Calls from Bloomberg News to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the disease control unit affiliated with the National Health Commission were not returned.
The lack of information about the impact of the abrupt turn of the pandemic in China last month is raising concerns around the world that the unchecked spread of the virus could lead to mutations, and has led a large number of countries to introduce measures aimed at country travelers. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization renewed its call for more Covid data from China, stressing the need to share information about the strains circulating, as well as whether cases are rising or falling in certain cities and rural areas.
China has been sharing information and data with the international community “in an open and transparent manner,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday. He has had in-depth communication with the WHO on the current situation, variants and vaccines, he said.
The apparent end of China’s daily reporting amid a record wave of infections is in stark contrast to other countries that continue to publish information even after coming to live with the virus. Major regional centers in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, report daily figures. New Zealand continued to report Covid cases daily for months after it reopened before switching to weekly reports.
After the initial Wuhan outbreak overwhelmed the healthcare system in early 2020, China’s daily updates became the gold standard for information on every infection in the country due to extensive testing and tracing efforts that underpinned covid zero.
But case numbers have become unreliable over the past month after China abandoned mass testing and other control measures. And his death figures have drawn criticism because of the narrow definition by officials of what they consider a death from covid.
China has reported fewer than 40 deaths since the big turn away from Covid Zero in early December. But the tally contrasts with reports on the ground of overwhelmed funeral homes and crematoriums across the country.
In Monday’s report, authorities said there were 7,557 serious cases across the country, an increase of more than 1,100 from the previous day. There were around 14,000 new confirmed cases on Sunday.
