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CIA Gave Repeated Warnings To The US That China Has Vastly Under Reported Coronavirus Deaths
Swarajya Staff
Apr 06, 2020, 03:14 PM | Updated 03:13 PM IST
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CIA the secret service of the US gave multiple warning to White House starting early February that China has been vastly under-reported the total deaths caused in the country due to Covid-19, Times of India has reported.
These warnings by the CIA came at a time when the US was compiling predictive models to prepare itself for fighting against the pandemic. The intelligence briefings were based on inputs from CIA assets in China.
The CIA though has not been able to shed light on what the exact casualty figures are but it has been hinted that the deaths in Wuhan may be at least 5,000 - double that of the official estimates.
It has also been speculated that the Chinese government itself may not have the accurate figures with itself as bureaucrats in Wuhan and other provinces have been accused of concealing the true figures over fears of severe punishment from the authoritarian communist government.
Recently US President Donald Trump had admitted that the figures quoted by China “appear to be on the lighter side”.
Accurate death and infection figures are necessary to better understand the SARC-CoV-2 virus and its spread so that countries can better prepare themselves for the outbreak.
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