BEIJING: United States President Joe Biden raised concern about China's handling of its COVID-19 outbreak hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) said that China was underreporting deaths from the disease.
The United States is one of more than a dozen nations that have imposed restrictions on travellers from China since it scrapped stringent COVID-19 controls last month that had shielded its 1.4 billion population from the virus for three years.
Global health officials are now trying to get to grips with an outbreak that is filling hospitals and overwhelming some funeral homes, at odds with China's low official virus death toll.
Mike Ryan, the WHO's emergencies director, told a media briefing on Wednesday (Jan 4) that current numbers being published from China underrepresent hospital admissions, intensive care unit patients and deaths.
Speaking hours later, Biden said that he was concerned about how China was handling the outbreak.
"They're very sensitive … when we suggest they haven't been that forthcoming," he told reporters while on a visit to Kentucky.
The comments from the WHO on the lack of data were some of the most critical to date and could yield a response from Beijing when it holds its regular foreign ministry press briefing later on Thursday. CNA