Veteran BBC journalist warns that vital Chinese coronavirus data is incomplete

Scottish journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil posted to Twitter today saying, "US intelligence agencies have told the White House that Chinese government itself does not know the extent of the coronavirus and has no better idea than the rest of the world."

US officials recently spoke of a classified report that was released to the White House containing information regarding China’s incomplete coronavirus numbers.

Neil noted that mid-level bureaucrats in Wuhan have been lying about the rates of infection and death counts. He added that they feel they have to provide false numbers in order to avoid punishment, job loss or even jail time.

In another tweet, he said, “CIA in particular has been warning White House since at least early February that China has vastly understated its coronavirus infections and that its count could not be relied upon as countries compile predictive models to fight the virus.”

He later added that seeing China’s true totals is necessary for allowing other countries to better understand how the virus will carry out. The numbers would also show how much of an impact measures like social distancing can have on the spread of the virus.