BEIJING, Nov 20, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The Chinese Ministry of Health says
officials who underreport the H1N1 flu pandemic will be punished.
The warning followed criticism from a prominent medical expert who cast doubt on
China's official death toll from the disease formerly called swine flu, the
China Daily reported Friday.
Some medical experts pointed to limitations in medical capacity and the fact
that hospitals are not testing everyone with flu symptoms.
Dr. Zhong Nanshan, famous for his candor in exposing a cover-up of the SARS
epidemic in 2003, suggested some local governments had deliberately concealed
suspected H1N1 virus cases.
"I just don't believe that there have been 53 H1N1 deaths nationwide," Zhong
said, adding that the number could be much higher.
The ministry reported that there had been 69,160 H1N1 cases on the mainland as
of Monday.
Zhong said some parts of the country, which he did not identify, were not
testing severe pneumonia deaths to see if they were, in fact, H1N1 deaths.
Ministry of Health spokesman Deng Haihua responded by saying that anyone found
concealing, underreporting or delaying the reporting of details about the
pandemic would be punished.
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