KAOHSIUNG CITY (Taiwan News) — It is widely known that official statistics coming out of Communist China can be trusted about as much as a student admitting how many units of alcohol they drink a week.

Chinese economic data is widely distrusted as a direct result of two things: the corruption that is endemic in the communist system and the self-preservation that is at the forefront of every CCP (Chinese Communist Party) official’s thinking at all times.

And yet, despite this being common knowledge, the international community continues to take official CCP data about the coronavirus data at face value. Why?

The answer is partly because there is no other data to go on and partly because of the international organizations responsible for tackling the outbreak. Notably, the World Health Organization (WHO), which is happy to prioritize CCP survival over that of the Chinese people.

Data doesn’t stand up to scrutiny

At the time of writing, the official statistics claim there have been just 24,300 cases of coronavirus inside Communist China with 490 deaths confirmed. So, how credible are these figures?

On Jan. 31, the esteemed medical journal The Lancet published a model suggesting that by Jan. 25, there should have been at least 75,000 cases of coronavirus in Wuhan alone. It also suggested that on the basis of the infection rate of 1-2 percent of people traveling to Japan from China, the likely number of cases in Wuhan would be between 100,000 and 200,000.

These models have been developed by independent medical experts, and while such models will have a degree of error, the likelihood of them over-exaggerating the number of cases so significantly is extremely remote.

Then there is the question of the number of fatalities from the coronavirus. In Wuhan, there are seven crematoria. These can handle a total of 60,000 bodies a year, or around 200 a day for the 12 hours they are usually open.

It is well-known these are all currently working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, cremating bodies as part of efforts to prevent the spread of infection. We can calculate that this would give Wuhan the capacity to cremate an additional 200 bodies a day.

If there have only been 490 deaths from coronavirus on top of Wuhan’s usual death rate, why is this massive extra capacity needed? The only conclusion that can be reached is that there have been far more deaths than the CCP is admitting.

Anecdotal evidence also appears to back this up. Reports from inside Wuhan suggest that doctors are being encouraged to record the cause of death as being "unknown," or link it to pre-existing health issues even if coronavirus is present. Medics inside Wuhan have also taken to social media to report that anyone who dies before being tested for coronavirus is not chalked up as being a victim of the disease.

Why is the international community silent?

The international response to the coronavirus epidemic is being coordinated by the WHO. As the crisis has intensified, it looks more and more discredited and increasingly like a Beijing puppet.

Such is the international anger at the handling of the crisis by the WHO that there has been an urgent global petition for the removal of its highly unimpressive director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. It secured 300,000 signatures in less than a week.

Due to the WHO's status as a U.N.-backed organization, most international governments are reluctant to condemn its efforts publicly. However, the true opinions of many governments can be seen in their actions.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have gone against WHO advice and advised against all but essential travel to the whole of China. Other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Italy have banned all flights from China, and any foreign traveler who has visited China in the past 14 days is not permitted to enter these or many other countries, including Taiwan.

Why do these governments feel they need to take these steps when the WHO has actively discouraged them from doing so? The only possible reason is that they have an idea of the true extent of the coronavirus outbreak and little or no faith in the WHO's work to prevent its spread.

Tencent’s leak requires action now

Last weekend, Tencent appeared to have finally let the cat out of the bag. On Saturday evening, it published an image entitled, "Epidemic Situation Tracker." It said there were actually 154,023 confirmed cases of coronavirus in China and a further 79,808 suspected cases.

It also recorded the current death toll as being 24,589 – a figure so substantially higher than official CCP claims that it is almost shocking. Yet these numbers appear much more credible than the official statistics.

They fit the medical models and estimates published by The Lancet and other experts. They match the proportion of cases seen in Chinese travelers overseas, and they would explain why the incinerators in Wuhan are working around the clock.

Crucially, these figures would also reveal that the CCP is continuing to cover up the true extent of the coronavirus crisis. It is also putting the lives of people in China and around the world in serious jeopardy in order to save face for itself.

This has to stop, and it has to stop now. It is no longer sufficient for the international community to hide behind a discredited WHO and continue to take the Chinese Communist regime at its word on this.

If China is not willing to come clean and work together with the international community to address the coronavirus outbreak before it is too late, it must be forced to do so. If this cannot be achieved through the usual international forums, then it must happen another way.

Even if the international community has to place the whole of Communist China in effective quarantine and shut all borders around the world to Chinese people to force the regime’s hand or provoke a popular uprising, this must be done.

If it isn’t, and with no vaccine or other solution to coronavirus on the horizon, we will all be paying the price for the Chinese regime’s lies and cover-ups.