Chinese experts rebuke twisting of latest CDC antibody survey

China’s latest national epidemiological serum survey, which showed the positive rate of coronavirus antibodies in Wuhan was 4.43 percent, has become a point of attack by the foreign media against the Chinese government for underreporting during the initial stages of the outbreak.

The ratio, which was interpreted by some media outlets as an argument for suggesting that Wuhan may have experienced nearly 10 times higher the number of COVID- 19 cases than the roughly 50,000 officially reported.

When asked about whether the study showed that the number of infections in Wuhan was potentially higher than the officially released figures, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said the concept might have been misunderstood.

“Similar reports from other countries have shown that, the ratio of antibodies is generally higher than the ratio of reported infections. Such disparity is due to the characteristics of the illness, habits of those seeking treatment, virus testing capabilities and serum antibody testing measures,” Wang said, noting that it can’t be easily summed up a singular number and simply multiplying the results of the survey with the number of people in the region.

China’s CDC has completed an epidemiological survey of COVID- 19 serum and found that the Chinese had a low infection rate. It was conducted among some 34,000 people over a month, showing the positive rate of COVID- 19 antibodies in Wuhan was at 4.43 percent.

It is a common scientific method of conducting in- depth surveys as a measure of understanding the average antibody level of the population, and similar studies have also been conducted in other countries including the US, suggesting that infections might be higher than reported cases, multiple Chinese epidemiologists said.

But it can’t be interpreted as persuasive evidence with which to accuse China of deliberately hiding the numbers or underreporting the COVID- 19 figures during the early stage of the outbreak, when there was a lack of testing means to establish asymptomatic cases, an expert close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Global Times.

Many who might have contracted the virus but showed mild symptoms did not go to the hospital or provided any sample for testing due to very little understanding about the virus at the beginning of the outbreak, he said.

“If they have not been diagnosed, how could we say we deliberately hide them before we had not even found them yet?” the expert said.