Ammon News - The data on number of Covid-19 deaths worldwide is lowered due to the under-reporting of coronavirus cases by China, said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday.

Addressing a press briefing, Ghebreyesus said, “Last week, almost 11,500 deaths were reported to the WHO: about 40 per cent from the America, 30 per cent from Europe and 30 per cent from the Western Pacific region. However, this number is almost certainly an underestimate, given the underreporting of Covid-related deaths in China."

He urged all countries to share true statistics on Covid-19 to contribute to a more effective fight against the spread of the disease. Last week, Tedros also asked China for reliable data on Covid hospitalizations and deaths in the country, according to the news agency ANI.

"We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing," Tedros said at a media briefing in Geneva.

This came after WHO held a high-level meeting with counterparts in China to discuss the surge in cases and hospitalization.

The Chinese government dropped its zero Covid-19 policy last month toward the pandemic after almost three years, leading to a mammoth rise in cases in a matter of few weeks. Later in January, obligatory PCR testing and centralized isolation for people arriving in China were canceled.

The sudden spike in the covid tally of China has forced a number of countries, including the United States, Italy, Japan and South Korea, to tighten measures against passengers arriving from the country.

During the media briefing, Tedros said throughout the pandemic, testing and sequencing helped WHO to track the spread and development of new variants, as per ANI reports.

"But since the peak of the Omicron wave, the number of sequences being shared has dropped by more than 90 per cent, and the number of countries sharing sequences has fallen by a third," he said.

The WHO chief noted that countries cannot maintain the same levels of testing and sequencing they had during the Omicron peak. However, he added that the world cannot close its eyes and hope this virus will go away.