Is the global coronavirus death toll accurate?

Article content

Is the coronavirus death toll being understated?

High levels of SO2 (sulphur dioxide) detected over Wuhan and Chongqing have led to speculation that both cities are cremating many bodies — and possibly have more deaths from the coronavirus than are being reported.

Sulphur dioxide emissions are produced when bodies (and medical waste) are incinerated.

China’s official anti-viral policy dictates that those dying from the coronavirus must be cremated quickly following low-key funerals.

This is to prevent large gatherings of people and is aimed at containing further spread of the SARS-like epidemic. More than 40,000 are infected worldwide and the death toll is moving quickly toward the 1,000 figure.

Now the Daily Mail is reporting that satellite images show sulphur dioxide emissions over both cities to be alarmingly high. A Czech-based weather service has reported levels in Wuhan that far exceed what the World Heath Organization has deemed safe.

Ironically, sulphur dioxide emissions can contribute to breathing issues and exacerbate asthma and other respiratory problems; coronavirus can likewise affect the lungs.

In January, reports were already coming from Wuhan that death certificates for some listed “severe pneumonia” instead of coronavirus — leading bereaved family members to wonder if coronavirus patient numbers (and deaths) were being lowballed by state authorities.

It should be said, however, that Chinese front-line health-care workers were thrust into this crisis quickly, and recording cause-of-death as pneumonia may have been expedient where time and testing resources were at a premium.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

The WHO has repeatedly praised the efforts made in China to contain the coronavirus.

More than 60 million people in China are living under restrictions aimed at combatting the coronavirus. There are some 25 other countries reporting coronavirus patients, although only two deaths outside China have been recorded. As of Monday, there were seven confirmed cases in Canada, four in B.C. and three in Ontario.

Reported deaths have surpassed the 774 who died of SARS in 2002-03.

An advance WHO team of experts, led by Canadian epidemiologist and emergencies expert Dr. Bruce Aylward, is in China to investigate the coronavirus, according to WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Currently, there is concern about the virus spreading among people who have no history of travel to China.

Ghebreyesus has tweeted that all countries, “must step up efforts to prepare for the arrival,” of the coronavirus.

“And do their utmost to contain it should it arrive.”