Beijing: China has hidden all the secrets from the world regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
Now news is coming out that in the Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus was first identified, the number of patients can be almost three times the official figures. This claim has been made according to a study conducted by Chinese researchers based in Wuhan city.
The paper published on Thursday analyzed blood samples of more than 60,000 healthy individuals taken from locations across China from March to May 2020. It was found that 1.68% of people in Wuhan have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. Hubei has 0.59% of the province and 0.38% in the rest of China.
The city has a total population of over 10 million. The researchers estimated that 168,000 Wuhan residents were infected with the virus, compared to the official number of 50,340 hospitalized cases.
The study reported that at least two-thirds of the total number may be infected after coming into contact with each other. Increasing the possibility that the virus can remain present in a community for a long time without being hospitalized.
A separate study published at the end of last month by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the “transpropriation” rate in Wuhan, with the percentage of the population with antibodies, at 4.43% even higher, meaning that nearly half The city could have infected millions of people.
COVID-19 was identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, with the first case involving the city’s seafood market. China closed Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province on January 23, 2020, but critics say it should have been acted upon soon.
China has dismissed criticism of its initial operation of the virus and officials now point to foreign studies stating that the virus had been circulating in Europe several months before the outbreak of Wuhan.
A World Health Organization team was scheduled to visit China this week to investigate the origin of COVID-19, but they have not yet been approved to enter the country.
So far in China, it has confirmed that its total number of COVID-19 cases is 87,331, while the death toll is 4,634.
