According to a top WHO official on Wednesday, China’s Covid-19 data does not accurately reflect the reality there and understates the number of hospitalisations and disease-related fatalities.

The statement was made as the UN agency was getting ready to host Chinese experts once again on Thursday as part of a larger briefing for all member nations on the condition of the Covid-19 virus worldwide.

Mike Ryan, the WHO’s director for emergencies, said during a media conference that “we feel that the current data being reported from China underrepresent the full effect of the illness in terms of hospital admissions, in terms of ICU admissions, and notably in terms of mortality.”

The WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said earlier in the briefing that the organisation is “concerned” about the rise of Covid-19 infections in China and he requested Beijing to provide quick and frequent statistics on hospitalisation and mortality there.

At a press conference, he said, “We continue to push China for more swift, frequent, trustworthy statistics on hospitalisations and fatalities, as well as more thorough, real-time viral sequencing.

“The WHO has emphasised the need of vaccination, including booster doses to guard against hospitalisation, serious illness, and death,” according to their statement about the danger to life in China.