China hits back at US after Trump accuses it of fudging coronavirus numbers

Trump questioned China’s official coronavirus tally on Wednesday by calling them “a little bit on the light side.”

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Following allegations by the Trump administration blaming China for fudging its coronavirus numbers, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying called the allegation “shameless,” reports Bloomberg.

“We’d like to provide support and help to [the U.S.] as our capacity allows,” Hua said during a Thursday press conference.

“However, these comments by those U.S. politicians are just shameless and morally repulsive, and these slanders, smears and blame games cannot make up for the lost time, but will only cost more lost time and lives,” she said.

Yesterday, President Donald Trump questioned China’s official coronavirus tally by calling them “a little bit on the light side, and I am being nice when I say that – relative to what we witnessed and what was reported.”

Bloomberg cited three unnamed U.S. officials who said  China’s coronavirus infections and deaths cases is “purposefully” incomplete.

China’s Shanghaiist Daily reported last week that 5,000 urns had been distributed to a funeral home in Wuhan, suggesting the real number of deaths in the city is more than the 2,535 deaths reported by the Chinese government at the time.

According to the report, arrangements had been made by authorities for 500 urns to be sent to Wuhan’s eight funeral homes on a daily basis until April 4.

“If they are all sticking to the same schedule, this adds up to more than 40,000 urns being distributed in the city,” the report said.

As of March 31, Chinese authorities have reported roughly 81,000 confirmed cases and 3,300 deaths.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence blamed China for not warning the world about the coronavirus before last December.

“The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming,” Pence told CNN on Wednesday.

“What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China,” he said.

The U.S  has over 200,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and a death toll surpassing 5,100.