The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said a sharp rise in reported COVID-19 cases in China, due to a change in counting methods, did not represent a big shift in the epidemic. China’s official death toll from the new coronavirus and the number of cases reported soared dramatically on Thursday after authorities altered the way they tally infections.
“This does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak,” Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme, said at a press conference. “We’re not dealing, from what we understand, with a spike in cases of 14,000 on one day,” he said.
“This increase that you’ve all seen in the last 24 hours is largely, in part, down to a change in how the cases are being reported.” Ryan also said he expected members of a WHO-led international mission to China to arrive over the weekend.