WHO asks China to share specific, real-time data on Covid-19 situation

The World Health Organization has again urged China to regularly share specific and realtime data on the COVID19 situation in the country amid a surge in coronavirus cases after Beijing relaxed its strict zeroCOVID policyThe global health agency has asked Chinese health officials to share data on genetic sequencing hospitalisations deaths and vaccinationsA highlevel meeting took place between officials from WHO and China on the current surge in COVID19 cases to seek further information on the situation and to offer WHOs expertise and further support a WHO statement said on FridayWHO again asked for regular sharing of specific and realtime data on the epidemiological situation including more genetic sequencing data data on disease impact including hospitalisations ICU admissions and deaths and data on vaccinations delivered and vaccination status especially in vulnerable people and those over 60 years old it addedWHO reiterated the importance of vaccination and booster doses to protect against severe disease and death for people at higher riskThe statement said that highlevel officials from Chinas National Health Commission and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration briefed WHO on Chinas evolving strategy and actions in the areas of epidemiology monitoring of variants vaccination clinical care communication and RampDWHO called on China to strengthen viral sequencing clinical management and impact assessment and expressed willingness to provide support on these areas as well as on risk communications on vaccination to counter hesitancyChinese scientists are invited to engage more closely in WHOled COVID19 expert networks including the COVID19 clinical management network the WHO statement saidAlso Read Covid outbreak Very concerned about current situation in China says WHO chiefIt said that the WHO has invited Chinese scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing at a meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on SARSCoV2 Virus Evolution on January 3WHO stressed the importance of monitoring and the timely publication of data to help China and the global community to formulate accurate risk assessments and to inform effective responses it saidMillions of Chinese have been infected in the current surge of Omicron variants in the country causing an alarm over the worldChinas health officials on Friday discussed with the WHO experts the current surge of the COVID19 cases in the country after the organisations chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asked Beijing to share more informationThe WHO tweeted on Thursday As I said at our most recent press conference in order to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the COVID19 situation on the ground in China WHO needs more detailed informationHe also defended various countries including India to take protective measures against people arriving from China to prevent the virus from spreadingIn the absence of comprehensive information from China it is understandable that countries around the world are acting in ways that they believe may protect their populations he saidIndia has joined the United States Japan Italy and Taiwan in imposing mandatory COVID tests for travellers from China amid a COVID19 surge there after authorities relaxed strict zeroCOVID rulesWe continue to call on China to share data and all hypotheses about this pandemic remain on the table the WHO chief said referring to the origin of the coronavirus which was first reported in Wuhan city of China in late 2019His remarks came against the backdrop of China criticising the countermeasures taken by various countries including the US Japan and India requiring travellers from China to undergo the required testsOfficial COVID19 figures from China have become unreliable as less testing is being done across the country following the recent easing of the zeroCOVID policyBeijings decision to lift all travel restrictions including scrapping of quarantine for inbound travellers from January 8 ahead of Chinese New Year has caused alarm around the worldMillions of Chinese are expected to travel to various parts of the world for holiday during this periodThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever