Explained: Is China sharing enough Covid-19 pandemic information?

As Covid-19 rips through China, the World Health Organization is calling on its government to share more comprehensive data on the outbreak.

Without basic data like number of deaths, infections and severe cases, governments elsewhere have instituted virus testing requirements for travelers from China. The greatest concern is whether new variants will emerge from the mass infection and spread. 

What’s been shared and what’s not?

Health authorities publish a daily count of new, severe cases, and deaths, but those include only officially confirmed cases and use a very narrow definition of Covid-related deaths.

Since the pandemic began, China has shared 4,144 sequences with GISAID, a global platform for covid data. That’s only 0.04 per cent of its reported cases .

What can be figured out? 

So far, no new variants have shown up in the sequences shared by China. The versions fuelling infections in China “closely resemble” those that have been seen in other parts of the world since July, GISAID said. 

Health officials have defended the testing as a surveillance measure that helps fill an information gap from China. This means countries can get a read on any changes in the virus through testing, even if they don’t have complete data from China.

Disseminating enough facts?

Chinese officials have repeatedly said they are sharing information, pointing to the sequences given to GISAID and meetings with the WHO. 

But WHO officials have repeatedly asked for more — not just on genetic sequencing but also on hospitalisations, ICU admissions and deaths.