Cremation numbers reveal possible suppression of true COVID-19 data in China

A potentially explosive new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in June 2020 suggests that the official Chinese statistics on COVID-19 cases or mortality are neither reliable nor credible. If true, such unreliable data during a crucial period of the pandemic in February and March 2020 could have seriously skewed the response and preparation of the rest of the world and altered the future course of the viral pneumonic illness.

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and sickened over 7 million people all over the world in just over five months. Originating in China's Wuhan city, it has rapidly and extensively spread to over 188 countries and territories.

This news article was a review of a preliminary scientific report that had not undergone peer-review at the time of publication. Since its initial publication, the scientific report has now been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in a Scientific Journal. Links to the preliminary and peer-reviewed reports are available in the Sources section at the bottom of this article. View Sources

The Credibility Issue

Even as data on infections and mortality continue to pour in, the rapid and sudden decline in China's COVID-19 statistics has raised widespread skepticism. The importance of this data for an epidemiological understanding of the disease, given its origin in China, mandates that accurate figures should be provided. However, the researchers say, "China's  COVID-19 statistics fall outside of recognized and accepted medical norms."

The outbreak is estimated to have begun in October 2019 and not in December. Even with the December date, the first report from Wuhan City Health Commission announced that 27 recent cases of pneumonia of unknown origin had been detected. At this point, other official figures and one media report showed over 45,100 cases and 266 cases, respectively.

Moreover, official Chinese state media at the time reported that many cases which may well have been caused by COVID-19 fell through the reporting gaps because private establishments treated them. This, say the researchers, has "led many to believe there may be serious gaps in our understanding of the outbreak based on what can be determined from this official government data."

Modeling for Actual Statistics in China

The researchers from Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and Ohio State University gathered their data from COVID-19 figures reported as Chinese government statistics, as well as reports by both official and non-official media, including investigative media reports on the number of cremations in Wuhan.

According to the current study, the infection estimates as of February 7, 2020, fell between 305,000 to 1,272,000, while the death estimates are projected to be between 6,811 to 7,223 for deaths. This is at least ten times the official figure, which is at about 13,600 and 545, respectively.

Data on Crematories

Reports from established media show that whereas the eight crematories in Wuhan operated for about 4 hours a day, on average, before the outbreak, and typically in the morning in keeping with Chinese funeral rituals, a change occurred at around January 25, 2020.

At this point, the crematories were found to be operating almost round the clock or at about six times normal levels. If the normal daily mortality is pegged at about 136, for this population of about 9 million, the increased hours of operation would show an excess of about 680 per day above the normal or a total of about 816 deaths a day. It is to be noted that the maximal cremation capacity is reported to be up to 2,100 bodies a day.

Additional cremation staff are reported to have been imported to Wuhan, as well as 40 mobile cremation stations, which were sent into the city from outside from February 19, 2020, to cope with the increasing need for cremation.

A simple linear estimate showed that at 80% utilization from January 25, 2020, to February 6, 2020, and then 100% until February 12, 2020, the cumulative deaths would be above 9,300. With the crude case fatality rate as officially reported, at 3.14%, the cumulative infection would be almost 300,000 in 19 days.

Data on Funeral Urn Distribution

If the number of funeral urns distributed and the period over which cremation services operated at full capacity operation up to March 23, 2020, are considered, the estimate of the total deaths up to this date reaches 36,000, which is over tenfold the official figure of 2,524. The cumulative infection could potentially be over 700,000. These estimates do not account for the mobile crematories and are likely to be significant under-estimates.

Exponential Growth Model

The researchers then used a model showing an exponential growth rate, from January 23, 2020, when the lockdown began, to the beginning of observed effects at about 15 days later. This is a valid approach provided the assumption made, that lockdown effects will begin to show only after February 7, 2020, is correct.

Beginning with a doubling rate of 6.4 days, a figure of 680 deaths per day on February 7, 2020, and at varying crude case fatality rates of 2.5%, 5%, and 10%, they estimate a cumulative infection in Wuhan of 1,27 million, 650,900 and 305,000 respectively. The number of deaths would be about 7,000 in all cases.

The start dates for the outbreak would be, in such a case, October 4, 2019, October 11, 2019, and October 17, 2019, respectively. If the doubling time is 2.54 days, the start date would be December 14, 2019, but the projected total number of infections would be over 2.2 million by February 7, 2020.

Either the news of the outbreak was significantly delayed and under-reported, in the first scenario, or the official case numbers were reduced by millions, in the second case.

Finally, if China's data on the 39% ratio of infections in Wuhan and China are used, the number of Chinese infections would reach over 5.6 million by February 7, 2020.

Serious Implications

Chinese media pointed out the strain on Wuhan's medical resources in January-February 2020, even though the city was reported to have about 90,000 beds by the end of 2018, plus an additional 100,000 beds allotted in hotels and schools by the beginning of February. This ratio of 190,000 available beds to about 33,000 confirmed cases has not been explained.

Neither has the fact that despite the more than 90,000 doctors and other healthcare professionals in Wuhan at the start, another 42,600 were sent in from other provinces, with almost 170,000 ventilators imported to Wuhan, to look after only 50,000 officially reported cases as on March 23, 2020. Earlier researchers have also pointed out mathematically "impossible" COVID-19 figures from China's establishment, estimating that over 85% of infections were not reported and that by February 20, 2020, the number of confirmed cases in China would have been well over 230,000 and not 55,000 as officially reported.

The study's conclusions are limited by the fact that it did not include other causes of excessive death during the lockdown, such as those occurring due to the difficulty in accessing medical treatment of other diseases at this time, the financial stress, and lack of support for emotional and social needs.

Nonetheless, the researchers conclude that official reports of COVID-19 cases and deaths from China are lopsided, with a huge discrepancy between the cremation-based estimates prepared in the current study and the Chinese official figures available in early February.

The significance of this is grave since the period from February to the end of March was a critical one with respect to preparing for an adequate response to the worldwide spread of the pandemic. The investigators comment that this "suggests the need to reevaluate China's official statistics and consider all available and reasonable data sources for a better understanding of the COVD-19 pandemic."

The study concludes, "The magnitude of the discrepancy between the results from their analysis and China's official figures suggests that the potential impact on the global efforts to control the pandemic is obvious. Transparency in China is of critical importance for the world to learn from this infection and for those in the future."

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This news article was a review of a preliminary scientific report that had not undergone peer-review at the time of publication. Since its initial publication, the scientific report has now been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in a Scientific Journal. Links to the preliminary and peer-reviewed reports are available in the Sources section at the bottom of this article. View Sources

Journal references:

Article Revisions

  • Jul 14 2023 - The preprint preliminary research paper that this article was based upon was accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed Scientific Journal. This article was edited accordingly to include a link to the final peer-reviewed paper, now shown in the sources section.
Dr. Liji Thomas

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Dr. Liji Thomas

Dr. Liji Thomas is an OB-GYN, who graduated from the Government Medical College, University of Calicut, Kerala, in 2001. Liji practiced as a full-time consultant in obstetrics/gynecology in a private hospital for a few years following her graduation. She has counseled hundreds of patients facing issues from pregnancy-related problems and infertility, and has been in charge of over 2,000 deliveries, striving always to achieve a normal delivery rather than operative.

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Comments

  1. Benjamin Ley Benjamin Ley United States says:

    The rate of infection in the US has topped China by an order of magnitude. Even if China lied and only reported 10% of their cases, we still have more infections! That's not even looking at the fact they have 4 times the population. So on a per capita basis we have more than 40 times the infection rate. Let's stop blaming China and ask exactly what we are doing differently.

    • adam david adam david Australia says:

      Why is this issue always a US vs China argument. America has done a horrible job... but If China lied about it they withheld information that could have saved countless lives. One countries blunders doesn’t absolve another of its. This whole crisis has just illustrated that politicians everywhere do not represent the interest of humanity as a whole. Being patriotic and defending them only serves THEIR interests. It’s a sad state of discourse in today’s world that will only make this crisis and every one to follow completely mismanaged and self serving to those in power.

    • A Stranger A Stranger United States says:

      You're not looking at the big picture, Benjamin. No country exists in isolation and the decisions of the Chinese Government, in this situation, have severely impacted the rest of the world. If they had not held back information in the first place and had been forthcoming, then it would have given the rest of the world a chance to better prepare for Covid-19. Their actions surrounding this whole matter have only acted to raise further suspicion around the origin of the virus. If there is a possibilty that the virus was indeed released due to the negligence of the CCP, then this needs to be officially investigated.

      If you read through the article and look at the sources, you'll see that China is clearly suppressing this information and outright lying to the rest of the world. China is the origin of the virus, which was supposedly unexpected. In that case, how could their numbers be so incredibly low compared to all the countries that knew it was coming. China is among the most populous countries in the world with very large, densely populated cities. With a virus as contagious as Covid-19 and with such a long incubation period, especially if it's unexpected and not known about, the number of infected should be incredibly high. It is fact that they are lying, not a suspicion. What reasons would the CCP have to lie about their statistics of infected? The only way that the number of infected could be so low in the origin country would be if they knew about the virus already. If they're lying about this and still hiding information, then what else are they lying about?

      I'm trying to understand your sentiment, but I can't see how you can believe that all will end well by staying quiet and ignoring issues. I don't think we should dismiss this matter so easily. We live in a world with consequences and we can't afford to just live quietly and mind our own business. Like I said before, we don't exist in isolation from others. Every action we take will have an impact upon the people around us. Yes, the United States has plenty of issues. However, the US has their own values and interests that need to be taken into consideration in relation to the workings of other countries. Society is dependent upon the upholding of law and order. If a group threatens this order with their decisions, they must be held accountable. Failing to intervene early only results in the consequences continuing to compound and spread outwards.

      Another misconception you seem to have is that, because the US is not at war with China, that means they're somehow allies. While they have a strong economic relationship, they're not allies. They view each other as potential adversaries and there is constant tension between them. These two countries are in a competition for power and they hold conflicting ideals, values, and goals.

    • Ryan Bayne Ryan Bayne United Kingdom says:

      We must put plenty of blame on China and any state that skews realities that affect the entire human race. We don't have time to waste and should be giving all facts to work with. However, we should also hope the CCP continue to keep China stable because the alternative could be very dark period.

  2. A nonymous A nonymous United States says:

    First paragraph under "Serious Implications" - is 2018 correct or is that supposed to be 2019?

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
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