China Reports Contradicting COVID Data in Desperation to Conceal Its True Situation

Patients lie on beds in a hallway in the emergency department of Zhongshan Hospital, amid a COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 3, 2023. (Staff/Reuters)

Commentary

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not honestly reporting its COVID-19 data. Even the data on their own official websites are contradictory. In this report, we will provide a comparison of the COVID-19 data from two CCP official sources on the same day and analyze the deep reason for the conflicting data.

China is the country of origin of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has significantly impacted the world since the first cases were reported in December 2019. As of Jan. 8, 2023, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) only reported a cumulative total of 5,272 deaths since 2019, and the regime downgraded the level of pandemic prevention measures on Jan. 8, 2023.

Just when the Chinese were under the illusion that the pandemic was about to end, on Jan. 14, 2023, the Chinese regime suddenly announced that from Dec. 8, 2022 to Jan. 12, 2023, China had accumulated nearly 60,000 deaths from COVID-19 infections. Such data drew a significant amount of scrutiny from the international community due to the inconsistencies. It appeared to be odd that the regime would downgrade pandemic prevention measures when the number of deaths skyrocketed.

The pandemic data released by China’s National Health Commission (NHC) at a press conference held on Jan. 14 this year contradicts the pandemic data reported by the CCDC.

According to the NHC data, the number of new COVID patients hospitalized is showing a downward trend. On Jan. 5, the number of hospitalized COVID patients peaked at 1.625 million, and then it declined to 1.27 million on Jan. 12. According to the CCDC, as of Jan. 5, only 92,184 confirmed cases were reported in the entire country.

The difference between the 1.625 million hospitalized new COVID patients reported by the NHC and the 92,184 total confirmed cases reported by the CCDC is huge. Moreover, the number of confirmed cases should be much larger than the number of hospitalized patients, not the reverse. Apparently, the two public health departments under the CCP were reporting completely different and contradictory data.

In regards to severe COVID cases in hospitals, China’s NHC reported 128,000 new patients on Jan. 5, while the CCDC reported only 5,016 on the same day. Once again, the figures released by the two departments on the same day were drastically different.

In addition, according to the CCDC, there were 104,018 severe COVID cases on Jan. 12, 2023. In other words, the number of hospitalized severe cases surged from 5,016 to 104,018 between Jan. 5 and Jan. 12, 2023. However, the NHC data claimed that there was a “downward trend” during the same week.

Global Accountability for the CCP’s Fraudulent Data

The official CCP pandemic data has been under increased scrutiny both domestically and internationally, and it is clear that there are significant loopholes and contradictions in the data released by different departments. It further shows that the official figures released by the CCP were largely falsified to cover up the truth of the pandemic.

In addition, the CCDC has reduced the frequency of reporting from daily to weekly, and even floated the idea of monthly reporting. This has left the Chinese public quite confused about the current state of the pandemic in the country. It appears that the Chinese regime has no intention of sharing the real numbers with the Chinese people and with the entire world.

The Japan Times published an article on Dec. 30, 2022, that the Chinese regime has turned its COVID numbers into a scientific guessing game for Western epidemiologists due to the lack of credibility in the CCP’s data. China’s official COVID numbers were simply improbable as all models by Western scientists suggested a much more severe pandemic outbreak.

Forbes suggested on Jan. 25 that the incompleteness of China’s COVID data is causing confusion worldwide in terms of understanding the scale of the pandemic. The Forbes article also raised questions about the effectiveness of China’s previous “zero-COVID” policy as the country hits its pandemic peak. The gaps and discrepancies in Beijing’s data suggest that the regime is significantly under-reporting its numbers and misleading the public.

WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan suggested on Jan. 4 that the Chinese regime underrepresented its COVID numbers amid a massive surge of the pandemic in the country. The United States and the European Union have repeatedly called on the CCP to be transparent about their COVID pandemic data.

Situations in China During the Pandemic

According to a recent investigation by The Epoch Times, many funeral parlors in China have accumulated large numbers of deceased bodies waiting for cremation and are building large open-air cremators to cope with the skyrocketing demand. The largest funeral parlor in Shanghai, which originally handled only about 90 cremations per day, now cremates 400 to 500 bodies daily.

This unusual U-turn in pandemic policy may be an indication that the CCP is aware that the real number of deaths in the pandemic is far beyond their previous estimation. On the surface, the Chinese regime claims to be relaxing its pandemic management, but in reality, it is simply giving up on its failed draconian “zero-COVID” policy altogether.

From the initial cover-up of the COVID origins to the extreme “zero-COVID” policy and the current “do nothing” approach, the CCP should be held accountable by the international community for its disregard for life and for its falsified data and information aimed at misleading the world.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.