Deciphering the Data from the Chinese Mpox Outbreak
Almost exactly one year after the World Health Organization declared mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) a public health emergency, the focus of the outbreak has quietly shifted from the US and Europe to Asia. China, in particular, is seeing a worrying rise in mpox cases right now.
Although Beijing recently issued guidance on mpox prevention, the country has not taken a very proactive approach to containing the outbreak. They have not spoken at all about the use of vaccines against mpox, for example. And the way Beijing has so far reported disease data, combined with the way the WHO publishes it, makes it really hard to understand the exact scale of mpox in the country.
According to Technology Review’s article “The Download: Counting China’s Mpox Cases,” deciphering accurate data on mpox cases in China is challenging due to inconsistencies in reporting between Beijing and WHO. This lack of transparency hinders efforts to assess and address the true extent of the outbreak.
China Report, Zeyi Yang’s weekly newsletter that provides insights into everything happening in China, sheds light on this issue. The newsletter emphasizes that despite recent guidance on mpo
