According to a newly released Bloomberg report, China concealed the extent of the Chinese Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak. The report cites anonymous U.S. officials speaking about a classified report showing the U.S. intelligence community concluding that China’s reporting was purposefully incomplete to hide fake numbers.
“Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake,” Bloomberg reports. Also included in the report is the observation that “Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing’s reporting.”
Other nations suspected to be forging their Coronavirus numbers include Iran, Russia, Indonesia and especially North Korea, which has not reported a single case of the disease, as probable under-counts. Others including Saudi Arabia and Egypt may also be playing down their numbers.
The report was received by the White House last week, according to one official.