What’s Really Happening in China With Coronavirus? 4 Things to Know!

The Chinese government says it has lifted the lockdown for the province of Hubei, where the coronavirus first emerged, and has reported no new results for several days.

However, much anecdotal information has arisen to call the official line from the Chinese Communist Party into question.

Here are some of the key questions, along with partial answers, regarding China and COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

1. What’s the Real Coronavirus Death Toll?

The question may not be answerable. The official Communist Party line is that there were more than 82,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 3,300 had died from the disease.

“It’s difficult to get real numbers. They expelled U.S. journalists, so we have to rely on social media, but the Chinese Communist Party censors everything,” former Army intelligence officer Greg Barbaccia told The Daily Signal in an interview.

Residents of Wuhan—the capital of Hubei province and where the virus originated—say the number of deaths is closer to 42,000 in that one city, Radio Free Asia reported.

Chinese authorities last week lifted a two-month coronavirus lockdown in Wuhan.

Seven large funeral homes hand out the cremated remains of about 500 people to family members each day, according to Radio Free Asia. Those funeral homes serve Wuhan, Hankou, Wuchang, and Hanyang. One supplier delivered 5,000 urns to a funeral home in Hankou in a single day.

Because the funeral homes informed families that they would try to finish cremations before the traditional grave-tending festival of Qingming on April 5, Radio Free Asia estimates that 42,000 urns would be given to survivors.

One Wuhan resident told the U.S. government-funded broadcaster that the Chinese government was paying hush money to the families of those who died from COVID-19, but under the guise of covering “funeral expenses.”

China’s government has canceled about 21 million cellphone accounts, according to the International Business Times, a development that some view as evidence of a higher death toll and relocations than what is reported officially. Another 840,000 landlines reportedly were closed.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/03/31/whats-really-happening-in-china-with-coronavirus-4-things-to-know/