In China, at least 232,000 people may have been infected with the virus in the first weeks of the corona outbreak, four times the official figures show. This appears from a study by Hong Kong researchers, reports The Guardian.
Mainland China reported 55,000 cases of contamination on February 20. According to the researchers, in their article in the scientific journal The Lancet, that number would have been much higher if the final definition of Covid-19 had been used from the beginning.
Seven definitions
Between January 15 and March 3, the Chinese Health Commission used seven definitions of Covid-19. According to the researchers, that had a “substantial effect” on the number of infection cases detected.
“If the fifth version of the definition had been applied to the entire outbreak, we estimate that – with enough testing capacity – 232,000 infections would have been detected by February 20, as opposed to the 55,508 confirmed cases.”
The definitions were constantly adapted as scientific knowledge about corona and laboratory capacity developed. For example, patients with mild symptoms or without a connection to the city of Wuhan were added to the list of corona patients only later.
About 83,000 infections have now been detected in China. Worldwide, there are more than 2.6 million. There are over 183,000 registered deaths.
Criticism for weeks
Last week, China announced that the death toll in Wuhan, where the virus was the first to spread, is 50 percent higher than initially believed. According to China, this was the result of incorrect reporting, not the withholding of information.
China has been criticized internationally for weeks for its handling of the corona virus. US Secretary of State Pompeo said yesterday that the Chinese government failed to report the outbreak of the virus in time. The US and Australia have called for an international investigation into how the virus was dealt with in its early stages.
The Chinese ambassador to the US subsequently criticized American politicians, who he says are too “stigmatizing and accusing them without grounds” rather than listening to scientists.
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