China hides one third of 120,000 confirmed coronavirus cases

The coronavirus epicentre under-reported the number of its pandemic cases by 40,000, it’s been revealed.

Workers disinfect a subway train in preparation for the restoration of public transport in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. Picture: Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua via AP

China has under-reported its confirmed COVID-19 cases by one third, or more than 40,000 infections, according to the South China Morning Post.

The revelation by the masthead — which is owned by China’s richest person, Jack Ma, the second best known of the Chinese Communist Party’s 90 million members — adds the biggest data set yet to a growing body of research done by experts around the world studying the proportion and infectiousness of “silent carriers” of the coronavirus.

“More than 43,000 people in China had tested positive for COVID-19 by the end of February but had no immediate symptoms, a condition typically known as ­asymptomatic,” the newspaper ­reported, citing classified Chinese government data.

As well as massively increasing China’s confirmed case numbers from its declared 81,600 to well over 120,000 — twice the amount in Italy — the revelation undermines claims by the World Health Organisation that have downplayed the proportion of COVID-19 cases without visible symptoms. The WHO — which despite sending an “investigative team” to China in February for a fortnight was apparently unaware of the country’s huge asymptomatic caseload — has also said that ­infections by silent carriers were “relatively rare”.

Social distancing at lunch in the Honda factory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus, on Monday. Picture: AFP

That has been called into question by epidemiologists around the world who are increasingly concerned about how silent carriers might be spreading the highly infectious coronavirus, which has been found in more than 380,000 cases globally — not including the 43,000 cases, or more than 10 per cent of the international total, reportedly left off China’s official tally.

Silent carriers complicate containment measures — including those in Australia — that focus on screening people with visible symptoms.

A joint study by experts in China, the US, Britain and Hong Kong estimated that mild and asymptomatic cases were the source of infection of almost 80 per cent of documented cases found in Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic, before it was locked down on January 23.

“These undocumented infections often experience mild, limited, or no symptoms and hence go unrecognised, and, depending on their contagiousness and numbers, can expose a far greater portion of the population to the virus than would otherwise occur,” wrote the team from Columbia University, the University of Hong Kong, Imperial College London, Tsinghua University, and the University of California, Davis. China’s decision to not include asymptomatic confirmed cases found after February 7 significantly reduced the number of new infections it reported as President Xi Jinping oversaw the country’s “people’s war” on the coronavirus. The decision to leave asymptomatic patients out of the country’s confirmed tally did not impact on the success of its quarantine efforts because, while not counted, patients without symptoms were still isolated in coronavirus facilities.

The WHO, of which China is a member, classifies all people who test positive for COVID-19 as confirmed cases, including those without symptoms. South Korea, which has widely tested for the coronavirus, has counted all identified asymptomatic cases in its total, now just under 9000. Two weeks ago, Korean officials said more than 20 per cent of patients confirmed to be infected with tests had no symptoms. Confirmed silent cases are also counted in Australia’s tally, which is approaching 2000.