# 4047
In a follow up to a pair of stories from yesterday (Zhong Nanshan On China’s Death Toll and China: Health Ministry Responds To Surveillance Criticisms), we now learn that the Chinese government has threatened to punish officials caught concealing the truth about the H1N1 pandemic.
During the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, Beijing and local officials went to great extremes in order to hide the extent of the epidemic.
While China has made promises regarding greater transparency since that time, getting good information out of that country remains difficult.
This from Reuters.
China vows to punish H1N1 death cover-ups
Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:19am EST
By Huang Yan and Lucy Hornby
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has promised severe punishment for officials caught concealing deaths from H1N1 swine flu after a medical expert said suspect cases may have been held back by local governments.
The Health Ministry said China had adopted a new H1N1 accounting method earlier this month. If a person was confirmed with H1N1 and then died, the case should be reported as death from H1N1, whether or not there was another condition.
"People responsible will be punished if reports of H1N1 virus cases are held back, lied about or delayed," said Deng Haihua, spokesman for China's Health Ministry, according to a notice on the ministry's website (www.moh.gov.cn) seen on Friday.
Zhong Nanshan, respected by many in China for his candor and work fighting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, said he did not believe the national H1N1 death toll of 53, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Thursday.
