Slamming accusations that the real facts about the coronavirus infection in Xinjiang have been concealed, an official from China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Saturday condemned such reports.
Addressing a press conference in the capital city of Urumqi, a spokesperson for the Information Office of the People's Government of Xinjiang, Elijan Anayit, claimed that "frightening misinformation" was being spread by East Turkistan forces abroad, according to CGTN.
Anayit said:"Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Xinjiang has been firmly implementing the decisions and deployments on epidemic prevention and control by the CPC Central Committee, and putting the safety and health of people of all ethnic groups as a priority."
No news cases in four days
According to the latest GISAID figures, 76 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Xinjiang. There have been two fatalities and 25 patients are said to have recovered. Anayit added that no new cases have been reported in the last four days.
The global death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 2,361 while the total number of infections has increased to 77,918. China's Hubei province — the ground zero of the infection — has reported 76,291 cases and 2,361 deaths, making it the worst-hit region.
A spate of accusations against China
Over the past few days, accusations against the Chinese government's lack of transparency have seen an increase. Recently, Larry Kudlow, the director of the US National Economic Council, questioned China's transparency about the coronavirus infection after China made changes to its method of counting confirmed cases.
"We are a little disappointed that we haven't been invited in and we're a little disappointed in the lack of transparency coming from the Chinese," said Kudlow, according to The Guardian.
Another American politician, Marco Rubio, senior United States senator from Florida, claimed that China was faking its number and that the coronavirus infection was not "contained" He tweeted: "No reason to believe the #coronavirus is "contained" in #China. The numbers they are releasing are fake. Their primary goal isn't addressing the virus,it's their global image. We have no idea what the true numbers are but they are without a doubt higher than what they admit to."
