Today China reported 29,317 new COVID-19 cases, which include 26,318 asymptomatic cases. Shanghai has 85.7% of the symptomatic cases and 95.5% of the asymptomatic cases, according to officials.

The latest numbers, which come as Shanghai's 26 million residents continue a 2-week-long lockdown, raise suspicion among COVID-19 experts.

"There's simply no way what they are reporting is what is happening," said Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, who directs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publisher of CIDRAP News.

The proportion of asymptomatic cases defies biological logic, he said, and to report that Shanghai's death toll is so low is a misrepresentation when Hong Kong currently has the highest per capita death rate in the world.

During a January to March surge in Omicron cases, Hong Kong recorded 5,906 COVID-19 deaths. That contrasts starkly with Shanghai, where health officials maintain that no residents have died during the Omicron surge and only 1 case out of 250,000 recorded since Mar 1 required medical treatment.

Read more...