As the pandemic presses on. There have been many concerns regarding the reporting of deaths from a number of countries. At the end of April 2020, the UK and America both believed that under-reporting of deaths and cases from China had caused a false projection of the severity of the virus.
Speculation followed after officials in Wuhan, where the virus was thought to have started, raised their death toll by 50% overnight. However, China claimed that the sharp increase was due to updated reporting that missed out deaths outside the hospital. In the graph below it is possible to see a sharp increase in cases after new death definitions had been released.
(Source- BBC)
Suspicions have also grown in regards to Russia covering their death toll amounts. This is because of a Russian newspaper that ran figures three times higher than official figures in Moscow and deaths.
If a comparison is made between the amount of infected people in Russia 232,243 confirmed cases and 2,116 deaths, and Spain which had similar amounts of confirmed cases, Spain's death toll is almost double that of Russia. Russia has claimed their figures are high due to their ability to carry out mass testing, which is what led to large numbers of confirmed cases.
Although it is unclear whether or not governments are deliberately under-reporting, there are some cases where, when a side by side comparison is done, there are many questions to be asked. There could be many reasons why there are discrepancies in the figures, including inadequate or varied testing methods or virus classification. There are also technological questions, and if these countries have centralised data access to find correct figures.
Although the World Health Organisation has now published guidelines which helps authorities classify deaths due to coronavirus, many experts have claimed that they came too late into the pandemic and that by the time they were issued on 16th April 2020, many countries had already not only made their own decisions on what the death classification for coronavirus should be but also, unfortunately, had counted the bulk of their deaths, which made it hard to report accurate figures. This means that, as countries took matters into their own hands, critics have claimed that Russia's covid classification methodology gives officials the ability to pressure pathologists into undercounting deaths due to covid.
In developing countries such as Brazil, there are concerns that the lack of testing has resulted in a minimised reflection of the accurate scale of coronavirus and its spread. At one point, Brazil was considered the centre of the pandemic due to the high number of cases and deaths.
(Source- BBC)
Real figures or are they?
As of December 2020, Russia's prime minister had eventually revealed the true effects of the pandemic on the country which showed more than 80& of excess deaths were related to Covid-19. This means that Russia's death toll is three times higher than what was previously reported by them. These new figures make Russia's Death toll the world third-highest after the US and Brazil.
(Source- The Washington Post)
Like many other countries' economies around the world, Russia predicts their economy will shrink with deep declines by 3.9%. However, surprisingly, China's economy is booming.
How has China flourished in the pandemic?
China is considered the world's second-largest economy, and as the infection rates slow, it has fuelled a growing appetite among Chinese investors to buy assets again. As other economies suffer, Chinese investors have taken the opportunity to buy into foreign investments.
Although these actions help the economy grow, it will mean that China will own much of the world's business once the pandemic is over, making them a business giant. There has been much scepticism surrounding coronavirus's nature and if it was created to give China the upper hand.
There is no clear indication of if this is really the case or not. Still, the rate at which things are moving, the continued lockdown around the world, there is a big possibility for Chinese investors and governments to move into investment opportunities they would otherwise not be able to gain.
The surrounding underreporting allegation and the confusion amongst China and Russia's figures have created distrust. The amount of time figures have changed has raised many questions surrounding their figures. For this reason, many countries, like India, who have banned Chinese apps, have prohibited products and services from these countries.
The distrust in China, one of the world's most prominent manufacturers and producers, may prompt countries to look elsewhere for goods. This puts India and Bangladesh in a very favourable situation as they can produce products and services just like China. India, over the recent years has had a tech boom, smartphones and devices have blossomed over the years making it one of the biggest industries in India today. This could shift the wealth of China and its people overnight to India.
