Chinese Firm 'Inadvertently' Lists Nearly 25,000 Deaths From Coronavirus, Foreign Ministry Refutes Claim

Taipei: In what could be a serious cover-up regarding the actual death figures in the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company Tencent allegedly published "real" data on the novel coronavirus deaths, briefly listing death toll as 24,589 -- way too higher than 563 deaths China officially announced on Thursday.

China, however, denounced as "rumours and lies" a report by Taiwan News.

According to the report, "Tencent... seems to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures".

Tencent, on its webpage titled "Epidemic Situation Tracker," showed confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023 -- over 10 times the official figure given to the world on February 1.

It also listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four times the official figure.

"The number of cured cases was only 269, well below the official number that day of 300. Most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589, vastly higher than the 300 officially listed that day".

Once people noticed this, Tencent allegedly updated the numbers to reflect the government's "official" numbers, according to the report.

"Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics," said the report.

Some people speculated a coding problem may be behind the real "internal" data but others believe that someone is actually trying to reveal the real numbers.

Tencent was yet to officially comment on these reports.

China's response

When asked to comment on the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing online on Thursday that "we have noted some rumours and lies on this epidemic, which are worse than the virus itself".

"You may have noted that even WHO Director-General has repeatedly called on people to not believe in rumours or spreading them. In some countries, relevant departments have been stepping up efforts to bring to justice to those creating and spreading rumours," she said.

China is acting with openness, transparency and a high sense of responsibility, Hua said, adding that the government has been sharing information in a timely manner, enhancing international cooperation.

"The National Health Commission and the Wuhan health authorities hold daily briefings to keep the public updated. China's openness, transparency and high sense of responsibility, and its decisive and effective measures have been recognised by the international community," she said.

"As some countries have taken such excessive steps as suspending flights, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) has also issued bulletins and encouraged all countries to follow WHO recommendations," she said.

"We deplore and oppose those countries who went against WHO's professional recommendations and ICAO's bulletins and have lodged stern representations with them," she said.

There have been multiple reports of Wuhan officials cremating deceased coronavirus victims before they could be added to the official death toll.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the coronavirus numbers coming out of China are "fishy".

If the numbers from the alleged Tencent leak are accurate, it would put coronavirus' mortality rate at almost 16 per cent. By comparison, SARS' mortality rate was 9.6 per cent, reports CCN.

Caijing, an independent magazine based in Beijing that covers societal, political, and economic issues, has also claimed that the Communist Party of China (CCP) is underreporting the extent of the coronavirus outbreak.

Caijing's article on Coronavirus that detailed how Wuhan officials are not reporting real figures was censored in China.

As of Thursday, the official death toll in China rose to 563, with 28,018 confirmed cases.

China's civil aviation regulator on Thursday urged all the country's airlines to maintain their international routes amid the coronavirus outbreak, that has killed 563 people in the Asian country so far.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS)