Chinese officials, desperate to recast the country as a global leader that has conquered the coronavirus, have been saying that its death rates are decreasing in the city of Wuhan. The problem, residents say, is that the numbers don’t add up.
Wuhan, the first epicenter of the global outbreak, began lifting its two-month lockdown over the weekend. The city in Central China restarted some subway service, reopened its borders and allowed families to reunite.
The move is part of Beijing’s choreographed campaign to mark a turning point in China’s fight against the deadly virus, which has spread to 200 countries and infected more than 732,000 people as of Monday morning. Of those, 34,686 people have died.
Despite China’s propaganda pushers being all smiles for the international community, residents told Radio Free Asia that Beijing’s claims that there were only 2,500 deaths in Wuhan is far from reality.
Rubio warns risk of escalation in Russia-Ukraine war is ‘more real than it was two years ago’
Detective arrested after allegedly pulling gun on fellow officer for microwaving fish at police station
Cold case of missing news anchor rocked by claim of confession in roadside meltdown: report
LATE BREAKING: ’60 Minutes’ Star Reporter Scott Pelley Fired After Mouthing Off to New Boss Chosen by Bari Weiss
WATCH: Rubio scorches claim Trump weighed finances in Iran decisions: ‘Not even for a millisecond’
Sex criminals, gang members abused child immigration program to enter US, DHS reveals
BREAKING VIDEO: UK Police Retreat as Brits Furious About Murder of Henry Nowak Take to Streets, Pelt Cops with Enormous Garbage Cans
Bessent clarifies threat against Bill Pulte: He said he was going to ‘kick his a**’
Aid group warns Ebola could have spread for three months before first cases were detected
Rubio grilled over Trump’s national security picks and foreign policy priorities: ‘It’s not funny, secretary’
Judge with intimate ties to Dem Party’s key Russia Hoax players behind latest anti-Trump decision
Watch Closely: Jill Biden Makes Telling Slip-Up During ‘Morning Joe’ Interview
Iran Significantly Escalates Fighting Overnight ‘In Response to a Series of US Military Attacks’
GOP leverages ICE funding package to make Trump’s controversial $2B fund ‘never exist’
Auburn University student disappears in Japan as parents join search: ‘In our own living hell’
For more than a week, seven large funeral homes that serve Wuhan have been handing out the cremated remains of about 500 people to their families every day. When added, the figure puts the official number the Chinese government has claimed into question.
“It can’t be right … because the incinerators have been working round the clock, so how can so few people have died,” said Zhang, a Wuhan resident who only gave Radio Free Asia his last name. “They started distributing ashes and starting interment ceremonies on Monday.”
Wuhan accounts for about 60 percent of China’s coronavirus cases, but the numbers the government has been putting out has fallen sharply in weeks, a sign, the government says, that its aggressive measures are working.
Social media users aren’t buying it and have taken the country to task, doing basic math and finding faulty figures in the government’s reporting.
The news website Caixin.com reported that 5,000 urns had been delivered by a supplier to the Hankou Funeral Home in one day. That’s double the number of deaths Xi’s officials claimed. There have also been social media posts that have claimed all seven of Wuhan’s funeral homes have handed out 3,500 urns every day.
Radio Free Asia reported that funeral homes told families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 that they will try to “complete cremations before the traditional grave-tending festival of Qing Ming on April 5, which would indicate a 12-day process beginning on Mach 23. Such an estimate would mean that 42,000 urns would be given out during that time.”
Rubio warns risk of escalation in Russia-Ukraine war is ‘more real than it was two years ago’
Detective arrested after allegedly pulling gun on fellow officer for microwaving fish at police station
Cold case of missing news anchor rocked by claim of confession in roadside meltdown: report
LATE BREAKING: ’60 Minutes’ Star Reporter Scott Pelley Fired After Mouthing Off to New Boss Chosen by Bari Weiss
WATCH: Rubio scorches claim Trump weighed finances in Iran decisions: ‘Not even for a millisecond’
Sex criminals, gang members abused child immigration program to enter US, DHS reveals
BREAKING VIDEO: UK Police Retreat as Brits Furious About Murder of Henry Nowak Take to Streets, Pelt Cops with Enormous Garbage Cans
Bessent clarifies threat against Bill Pulte: He said he was going to ‘kick his a**’
Aid group warns Ebola could have spread for three months before first cases were detected
Rubio grilled over Trump’s national security picks and foreign policy priorities: ‘It’s not funny, secretary’
Judge with intimate ties to Dem Party’s key Russia Hoax players behind latest anti-Trump decision
Watch Closely: Jill Biden Makes Telling Slip-Up During ‘Morning Joe’ Interview
Iran Significantly Escalates Fighting Overnight ‘In Response to a Series of US Military Attacks’
GOP leverages ICE funding package to make Trump’s controversial $2B fund ‘never exist’
Auburn University student disappears in Japan as parents join search: ‘In our own living hell’
Another online estimate is based on the cremation capacity of funeral homes in Wuhan, which runs 84 furnaces with a capacity over a 24-hour period of 1,560 urns. That estimate puts the number of estimated deaths in Wuhan at 46,800.
Another resident of the Hubei province – where Wuhan is the capital – told RFA that the majority of people there believe more than 40,000 people died before and during the lockdown. That’s tens of thousands more than the government has claimed.
“Maybe the authorities are gradually releasing the real figures, intentionally or unintentionally, so that people will gradually come to accept the reality,” the resident, who only gave his last name as Mao, said.
One source close to the civil affairs bureau told RFA that the true number of deaths was a sensitive subject in the communist country and that authorities probably know the real number but are keeping it under wraps.
There have also been claims of city officials paying off families in exchange for their silence.
“There have been a lot of funerals in the past few days, and the authorities are handing out 3,000 yuan in hush money to families who get their loved ones remains laid to rest ahead of Qing Ming,” Wuhan resident Chen Yaohui said. “It’s to stop them keeing (a traditional expression of grief); nobody’s allowed to keen after [the festival] Qing Ming has passed.”
Chen told the news outlet that no one in Wuhan believes the official death toll is 2,500.
“Before the epidemic began, the city’s crematoriums typically cremated around 220 people a day,” he said, adding that during the epidemic, the government transferred cremation workers from around China to Wuhan to cremate bodies around the clock.
Story cited here.
