"There has never been any cover-up and we will never allow any cover-up." China defended on Friday any manipulation of the figures of its official balance sheet through a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian. A press conference during which the latter also called for the unity of all countries against Covid-19, after accusations by Western leaders who question Beijing's attitude to this deadly pandemic.
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Questions from many Western leaders ...
A few hours earlier, President Donald Trump accused the Chinese regime of downplaying his balance sheet, while the day before Emmanuel Macron blamed Beijing's lack of transparency. There are "obviously things that have happened that we don't know," he told the British daily Financial Times , also questioning the record posted by China. Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Beijing should answer "tough questions about the spread of the virus and why it couldn't be stopped sooner."
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... that Beijing sweeps away
Questions that China is sweeping away, even if Beijing has at the same time announced an increase in its balance sheet, with an additional 1,300 deaths in Wuhan. A 50% increase in the number of dead in the city where the virus that killed at least 150,000 people worldwide appeared.
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But the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs justifies itself by explaining that some of these new victims died at home, because they could not be taken care of in hospitals. This would explain their absence, until then, of official statistics.