US President Joe Biden expressed his concern after the World Health Organization criticized China's policies in providing statistics on the spread of the Corona epidemic in the country, amid fears in America and Europe of the spread of a new variant of the virus.

Biden told reporters during a visit to Kentucky that he was concerned about China's handling of the outbreak.

"They are very sensitive... when we point out that they are not so clear," he added.

China has not yet commented on these remarks, but it is expected to issue a strong response when the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is held later today, Thursday.

Biden's remarks came after the official in charge of managing health emergencies at the World Health Organization, Michael Ryan, said in a press conference yesterday, "We believe that the current figures published by China do not reflect the reality of the impact of the disease with regard to hospitalizations, intensive care admissions, and especially deaths."

Ryan explained that China's definition of epidemic deaths only counts cases in which people died as a result of breathing problems after they were confirmed to be infected with the virus, and this change in methodology means that a large number of deaths are not listed as being caused by the epidemic.

In the context, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday, Wednesday, "We continue to ask China to provide faster, regular and reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more complete and real-time genetic sequencing of the virus."

Ghebreyesus confirmed that the United Nations World Health Organization is "concerned" about the situation in China, stressing the importance of the vaccine.

For her part, Director of the Department of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at the World Health Organization, Sylvie Briand, indicated that the examination does not mean restricting travel, and she said, "When we are in the epidemic phase, it is recommended to stay where we are, and it is better to take the test when leaving."

As for the technical officer responsible for managing the epidemic in the organization, Maria Van Kerkhove, she said, "We reported more than 13 million injuries last month, and we know that this is less than reality." She added that what is of concern is the increase in the number of deaths by 15% last month.

Funeral of a deceased person in Beijing (Reuters)

concerns in Europe

With most of the world tracking the increase in cases of the disease in China, infectious disease experts are increasingly concerned about the highly pathogenic "Omicron XBB.1.5" strain, which accounted for more than 40% of cases in the United States, especially in Northeast of the country, according to official data last week.

The new Omicron variant, which has been detected in 29 countries so far, including Europe and the United States, is being monitored by the World Health Organization.

“We hope that winter will pass before this strain spreads among us,” German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday. “We are monitoring whether and to what extent this strain has appeared in Germany.”

Opening of the Chinese borders

Despite the outbreak, China announced the opening of its borders with Hong Kong on Sunday, for the first time in 3 years.

China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in a notice Thursday that the reopening will result in the resumption of travel between the financial center and the mainland without the need to undergo quarantine, but that it will be done in a "gradual and orderly" manner.

Hong Kong followed China's strict policy (Zero Covid) until mid-2022 when it began easing some restrictions, and then dropped all its anti-disease rules last month, with the exception of wearing masks, which remained mandatory except when exercising.