China on Thursday unequivocally defended its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic after the World Health Organization accused Beijing of underreporting the true number of deaths from the coronavirus, Reuters reported.

Mike Ryan, the WHO’s director of emergencies, said on Wednesday in some of the organization’s most critical comments on Beijing that Chinese officials were not reporting real data from several quarters.

Last month, China lifted its draconian restrictions against the spread of the coronavirus after authorities decided to abandon the controversial “zero COVID-19” policy following unprecedented protests from a population fed up with two years of repeated quarantines imposed after only a few cases of COVID-19 were detected.

However, Mao Ning, one of China’s foreign ministry officials, said during a daily press conference that the Chinese authorities had “transparently” and “quickly” handed over the data they had to the WHO.

China says it is “promptly” reporting on the situation related to COVID-19

Mao also said that “the epidemic situation in China can be controlled” and that Beijing hoped that the WHO would maintain a “scientific, objective and impartial” position.

“The facts proved that China has always maintained close communication and provided data to WHO in a timely manner in accordance with the principles of legality, promptness, openness and transparency,” it added.

The WHO’s comments on Wednesday came as China celebrates the Lunar New Year later this month, an event that typically sees millions of people travel long distances within the country.

The Chinese government has tried to downplay the severity of the pandemic in recent days, with the state-run Global Times newspaper saying in an article published on Wednesday that the number of infections had already reached a plateau in several major cities, including Beijing. .

But the few photo and video recordings that pass the strict filter of government censorship and the reports of international correspondents in the country speak of a completely different situation.

The number of coronavirus infections seems to be completely out of control

An eyewitness quoted by Reuters on Thursday said that at a hospital in Oingpu, a district in the Shanghai metropolitan area, patients, most of them elderly, were lying on beds in the corridors and waiting rooms of the medical facility.

In the announcement of hospital workers, people who came here were warned that they would have to wait an average of 5 hours for a consultation.

Police patrolled a nearby crematorium, where long lines of mourners waited to collect the remains of their relatives.

An estimate based on statistical modeling published by a British specialist firm late last month predicted that the daily death toll from the coronavirus in China was already approaching 10,000 on December 29.

The countries of the world are beginning to isolate themselves from China again

According to the same estimate, the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in China from December 1 to the specified date has already reached 100,000, and the number of infections – 18.6 million.

Experts explain the situation with the low natural immunity of the Chinese population as a result of repeated lockdowns and the questionable effectiveness of domestic vaccines against COVID-19.

Several countries, including the United States and a number of European Union member states, have reintroduced mandatory COVID-19 testing for travelers arriving from China in recent days amid the explosive spread of the coronavirus.

Beijing condemned the actions on Tuesday, warning that it could resort to “countermeasures” in response.