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China Coronavirus Cases: What Are The Real Numbers?

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In an autocratic state that takes censorship to a level that few can compete with, according to a recent report and just simple math, China has underreported coronavirus cases by a staggering amount. The extent to which will never be known. The extent to which COVID-19 cases were hidden won’t and can’t even be known at the highest levels of government in China. If you’ve never traveled around China, you won’t truly grasp the size of the country or the size of its population. While landmass can be measured, China has no idea what its population is these days and not its true count of coronavirus cases its hidden. That’s not to forgive China, for its manipulation of coronavirus cases estimates of which the country was actively manipulating possibly costing lives on every corner of the world.

Misrepresentation of Coronavirus Cases in China

I’ve lectured for the University of Wales in China for a number of years. I’ve worked as an English teacher. I know I’ve been followed, and surveilled in the Middle Kingdom. I was accused of racism in a bar once for saying Chongqing, the biggest city you’ve likely never heard of at 32(?) million. China doesn’t know how many people are there, and that’s just one city. But, it’s quite clear from the United States intelligence community, reported by “The Economist” and a multitude of other sources that China grossly misrepresented its Coronavirus cases to a level that will never be known.

Real vs. Fake numbers

However, a recent report from the American Enterprise Institute, that number is estimated at nearly 3 million unreported coronavirus cases by China and quite possibly more. You don’t need to be a China expert to understand that there is no way in hell, that the numbers reported by Beijing are anywhere near actual numbers. What’s disturbing is that just 20% more honesty may have saved thousands of lives around the world and certainly not put the brakes on the world’s economy. The brazen nature by which China has underreported its coronavirus cases is enough to make the Dalai Lama angry, wait he’s got more reasons than this obvious obfuscation of what is even possible.

“In early April,” Derek Scissors of AEI wrote in the report, “headlines read that the global figure for COVID-19 cases had breached one million. At the same time, China rejected charges by US intelligence and others that it has lied about the extent of its outbreak.”

There is little question that many will do a deep dive into the extent of this coverup of coronavirus numbers by China but until then – Shame on you.

About the author

Brendan Byrne

While studying economics, Brendan found himself comfortably falling down the rabbit hole of restaurant work, ultimately opening a consulting business and working as a private wine buyer. On a whim, he moved to China, and in his first week following a triumphant pub quiz victory, he found himself bleeding on the floor based on his arrogance. The same man who put him there offered him a job lecturing for the University of Wales in various sister universities throughout the Middle Kingdom. While primarily lecturing in descriptive and comparative statistics, Brendan simultaneously earned an Msc in Banking and International Finance from the University of Wales-Bangor. He's presently doing something he hates, respecting French people. Well, two, his wife and her mother in the lovely town of Antigua, Guatemala.







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