Doubts over H1N1 Death Toll in China

At a press briefing on Tuesday, the head of Chinas Ministry of Health Emergency Response Department, Liang Wannian was questioned about the accuracy of the H1N1 flu death toll.

According to Liang Wannian, the number of deaths from H1N1 stands at 178. This is more than three times the figure reported two weeks ago.

A prominent Guangdong doctor, Zhong Nanshan—known for exposing the SARS cover-up in 2003—told Chinese state-run media he didnt believe the official death toll.

Liang Wannian denied H1N1 flu being misreported.

But this hasnt stopped rumors from appearing on Chinese blogs.

On the popular Chinese forum Baidu.com, a blogger from northeastern Jilin Province posted this. It claims the Jilin City Central Hospital is refusing to diagnose patients as H1N1 cases. Instead, doctors are treating severe flu symptoms as pneumonia. The blogger also says the Jilin Provincial Committee has guaranteed Chinas State Department that Jilin will have a zero death rate from the H1N1 flu virus.

Another blogger claims their relative, who works as a nurse, said hospitals have been ordered not to diagnose flu patients as H1N1 cases.

In Guangdong Province, a health official said not all patients with flu symptoms will be tested for H1N1. An investigator from the Health Department told Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po, there are too many patients. He said only those with pneumonia, persisting fevers and patients who have died will be tested.

The Chinese regimes official death rate of H1N1 is 0.19%. According to the World Health Organization, this is less than half of the worldwide rate of 0.4%.

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