China’s REAL coronavirus death toll ‘could be 14 TIMES higher’ as second wave sees families quarantined behind razorwire
CHINA'S true coronavirus death toll could be up to 14 times higher than official figures show, says a new study.
The shocking claim comes as photos taken in Beijing show families quarantined behind razorwire amid reports of a second wave of infections.
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Millions of people in 27 communities are under ultra-secure lockdown measures in the wake of a spike in virus cases caused by a 'mutant' strain.
US researchers have now say China’s official number of fatalities during the pandemic lacks credibility.
Experts at the University of Washington, Ohio State University and US communications company AT&T monitored crematorium activity in Wuhan to try and gauge China's real death numbers.
And they discovered the outbreak city may have been burning up to 2,000 bodies every day by the second week of February.
At that time the official death toll for the whole of China was only reported to be about 700.
However, the research - published on - has yet to be scrutinised by other scientists.
The team wrote: 'The estimates of cumulative deaths, based on both funeral urns distribution and continuous full capacity operation of cremation services up to March 23, 2020, give results around 36,000, more than 10 times the official death toll of 2,524.
'Our study indicates a significant under-reporting in Chinese official data on the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan in early February, the critical time for response to the Covid-19 pandemic.'
Reports of more than 80 Wuhan crematoriums operating 24 hours a day were a sign the number of people dying was far higher than the figures being released to the world, they said.
The researchers estimate they were burning between 680 and 2,000 "extra bodies" per day.
By March 23, an estimated 36,720 people could have been cremated in Wuhan alone, they calculated.
According to Beijing, as of today only 4,634 people have died of coronavirus in the whole of mainland China.
The shocking claims follow worrying reports of a "mutant" strain of the coronavirus which has been detected in Beijing.
State health officials reported another 31 cases this morning, bringing the total number of citizens infected to 137 over the past week.
Before the new spike, Beijing - which has a population of 20 million - had gone 57 days without a locally-transmitted case.
The latest infections are believed to have started in the massive Xinfandi food market which supplies 80 per cent of the city's meat and vegetables.
The food outlet - which has now been closed - is much larger than the one in Wuhan where the first cases were detected late last year.
Beijing state officials have ordered anyone who visited the market to isolate at home for two weeks.
Images from the city today showed medical workers wearing full protective suits checking queues of people at a tented testing center.
Beijing has given Covid-19 nucleic acid tests to 356,000 people since 13 June, according to the city's government officials,
A total of 1,255 flights have been cancelled at Beijing's Capital and Daxing airports - which is 60 per cent of all air travel.
No official public notice on a change in regulations has been issued by China's civil aviation authority or by either airport.
However, Beijing Capital said on its microblog it expected to handle 500 flights on today - much lower than in recent days.
The cancellations are among a swathe of limitations on travel in and out of the city, especially in so-called virus hot spot areas.
Meanwhile, millions of Beijing citizens are in lockdown with compulsory temperature checks in place and residents banned from leaving the city limits.
In other parts of Beijing, locals cannot depart the sprawling city without being tested for the killer virus first.
Kindergartens, primary schools and high schools were also closed, while some restaurants, bars and nightclubs also shut their doors.
The virus prevention and control situation in Beijing was described as "extremely grave" at a meeting of theCommunist Party Standing Committee led by the city's top official, Party Secretary Cai Qi.
"This has truly rung an alarm bell for us," Cai warned.
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This morning Beijing raised its threat level from three to two, leading to the cancellation of classes, suspended reopenings and stronger requirements for social distancing. ImageUpload an image file, pick one from your media library, or add one with a URL.UploadMedia Library
China had relaxed many of its coronavirus controls after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the virus in March.
After passing 80,000 confirmed cases at the start of that month, it has added only around 3,200 since then.
Footage from Beijing shared by activist Jennifer Zeng on Tuesday showed people lining up to pack onto buses as officials in hazmat suits shout orders through megaphones.
Seven hotels were requisitioned as quarantine sites with people rounded up in an all-day operation after another outbreak in the city, she claimed.
Beijing health officials said gene sequencing showed the virus strain causing the new outbreak was related to that in Europe.
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Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian warned reporters: "The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe.
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"Right now we have to take strict measures to stop the spread of Covid-19."
Since the virus emerged in China late last year and spread worldwide, there have been more than eight million confirmed cases and over 441,000 deaths.
