Up to half a million residents in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic is believed to have originated may have been infected with the virus, about ten times more than the initial number of confirmed cases.
Seconds a study published on Monday afternoon by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention which surveyed more than 34,000 people in April, about 4.4% of those tested carried antibodies to fight the virus that causes COVID- 19.
The presence of antibodies means that people had the virus at some point in the past and, given the proportion, about 500,000 residents in Wuhan, which has a total population of 11 million, could have been infected.
This is almost ten times more than the 50,000 confirmed cases reported by Chinese health authorities in mid-April.
As of Sunday, Wuhan had reported a total of 50,354 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission.
This week’s study indicated that the infection rate in Wuhan was significantly higher than in other Chinese cities. For example, the survey found that only 0.44 percent of Hubei residents surveyed were found to carry antibodies.
Seconds CNN, Yanzhong Huang, a senior global health member of the Foreign Relations Council, said the initial underinformation in Wuhan could be attributed in part to the chaos of the first months of the pandemic, as well as the failure to count asymptomatic cases of COVID-19.
Huang noted that underinformation is not an exclusive problem in Wuhan, as testing capabilities were limited and hospitals were overwhelmed by a sudden rise in patients, as little was known about the virus in the early months.
However, the Chinese government has also faced scrutiny and criticism over the alleged lack of transparency about the severity of the virus.
Monday, citizen journalist which reported from Wuhan at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in China he was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of “catching disputes and causing problems,” according to several reports.
The indictment is regularly used by the Chinese government against human rights activists and other dissidents.
Zhang Zhan, 37, traveled to Wuhan in February and filmed hospitals, neighborhoods and more when the city closed during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. His reports accused the government of failing to inform citizens about the reality of the pandemic.
Prosecutors accused Zhang of “publishing large amounts of false information” and receiving international media interviews for “maliciously provoking the epidemic situation of Wuhan Covid-19.” CNN reported.