WHO has updated COVID-19 cases and death totals for China

[CSSEGISandData]

Hello all,

On 1/31/2023, it came to our attention that the World Health Organization has begun publishing updated COVID-19 cases and deaths on their dashboard. We are working to determine how to integrate this data into our repository due to our independent sourcing of Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan. We appreciate your patience as we work through the implications.

Current (2/1/2023) WHO totals are:

Cases - 98,527,673
Deaths - 111,621

[dlluskin]

Thank you!

[Global400]

Hong Kong SAR: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china-hong-kong-sar/
Taiwan: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/taiwan/
Macao SAR: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china-macao-sar/
Mainland China: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/

[beansrowning]

Hong Kong SAR: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china-hong-kong-sar/ Taiwan: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/taiwan/ Macao SAR: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china-macao-sar/ Mainland China: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/

These data have also not been updated for China Mainland since Jan 9 as they used the old daily reports that are no longer being produced. See #6414

@CSSEGISandData It seems there are generally three approaches here:

1. Using the sporadically (perhaps weekly at times) reported case and death counts posted by CDC China: https://www.chinacdc.cn/jkzt/crb/zl/szkb_11803/jszl_13141/

   • Pros: Direct reporting on Mainland China from an official source
   • Cons: "Hospitalized Cases" may constitute a new case definition, thus old time series data may not be directly comparable to new data collected. Might have to create a new one with this caveated. Reports may require NLP or manual effort to extract. Reporting periods may overlap, presenting challenges in interpretation.

2. Using WHO time series data as-is

   • Pros: Direct reporting from official sources, somewhat predictable (and more frequent) cadence
   • Cons: No disaggregation to HK, Macau, Taiwan, or Mainland, thus you'd have to create a separate time series for these data that couldn't be compared to previous data

3. Bodging a "Mainland China" disaggregated time series from WHO data by subtracting known values from HK, Macau, Taiwan

   • Pros: You keep a disaggregated stream
   • Cons: Seems intractable and probably ill-advised, as values from disparate reporting streams from HK, Macau, and Taiwan are not liable to add up to reported aggregate values from WHO. Any values would likely be out of alignment with most officially reported data if they made sense at all

My money would be on the first option if you'd like to continue offering officially sourced data disaggregated, though I can see plenty of reasons to choose option two. In any scenario, the additional ADM1 granularity is gone and I don't suspect this will return outside of periodic updates through charts and a few stats, though I'd love to be wrong.

[pwdel]

Not sure if anyone had seen this...:

https://www.chinacdc.cn/jkzt/crb/zl/szkb_11803/jszl_13141/202301/t20230125_263519.html

This appears to break things down on a day by day case total based upon a variety of methods.

I am not sure if this could be helpful in desegregation efforts.

[ZauberViolino]

Not sure if anyone had seen this...

There are no specific numbers on the cases and deaths in that ... thing. I think we should just stick to the current plan - use the death data from the weekly reports, and igore the (confirmed) cases data.

I suspect the WHO China data only include those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Hope I'm wrong.

[CSSEGISandData]

We're still discussing internally the best way forward.

@pwdel thanks very much for the graphic - we've reviewed it but as it is lacking precise numbers we haven't been able to determine a means of bringing it into our repository.

@ZauberViolino we have received confirmation from WHO directly that their case and death totals include Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan. The WHO is receiving daily data directly from the People's Republic of China National Health Commission (NHC).