A disturbing video shows three children being placed in one body bag in a hospital in Wuhan

There has been increasing criticism and doubt over China’s ability to control the current coronavirus outbreak

On Tuesday, China reported its highest daily death total yet but claim new cases have decreased by 20%

The Chinese government has been accused of suppressing information related to the severity of the current outbreak

A disturbing video being shared on social media is raising concerns over the accuracy of the official death count from the Coronavirus outbreak that started in China. The chilling video shows three children being placed in one body bag in Wuhan.

Three Children Placed In One Body Bag In Wuhan

The video is reportedly from a hospital in Wuhan, China, ground zero of the deadly outbreak. The video starts with one child laying in a body bag on the floor. A second child is wheeled up and placed in the body bag with the first child. Once the two children are situated, a third child is wheeled up and placed into the bag, which is then closed up and has what appears to be one pair of clothing laid on top.

The video has once again sparked concerns over China’s ability to place honesty over their concerns of looking inept to the rest of the world. The Chinese government and state media have been caught acting deceitfully in the past month since the outbreak began. Whistleblowers in China have warned people repeatedly to not trust the Chinese government. People in China have been threatened with 3 to 7 years in jail for sharing what the government deems as rumors on social media. It appears doubt in China’s ability to handle the outbreak may be growing outside the country.

COVID-19

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced the deadly new strain of coronavirus—formerly known as 2019-nCoV—is officially named “COVID-19.” On the same day the WHO also showed a new concern for COVID-19 as a “UN Crisis Management Team” was activated so other agencies can “bring their expertise to bear on the wider social, economic & developmental implications of the #COVID19 outbreak.” The new concern sends mixed signals when compared to a tweet just ten days prior where the WHO said there was “confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreak.”

China also announced the highest daily coronavirus death toll on Tuesday with 103 deaths. The deaths pushed the official total number of deaths to over 1,100. Today, the death count sits at 1,118. Up to this point, only two of those deaths were said to have occurred outside of mainland China. Ogbonnaya Omenka, a professor and public health specialist at Butler University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, told USA TODAY the “rise in mortality is concerning.” Omenka claims health workers are “overstretched” and the diagnostic process is not able to keep up with potential new cases.

The inability to keep up with the diagnostic process has caused some concern over the accuracy of the total number of cases even though the number of new infections is said to have dropped 20% on Monday from 3,062 to 2,478. Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan said the virus was hitting a peak in China this month and predicted the outbreak may be over by April. Nanshan’s prediction is based on mathematical modeling, recent events and government response. However, Zhong has already made a peak prediction that proved to be premature and inaccurate.

Meanwhile, China has “removed” several senior officials over their handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. The party secretary for the Hubei Health Commission, and the head of the commission, are the highest officials to receive punishment so far. The deputy director of the local Red Cross was also removed from their position due to their inability to properly disperse donations. State media claims hundreds have been removed or demoted from their positions in Hubei and other provinces. Earlier in the month the deputy head of the Wuhan bureau of statistics was removed for “violating relevant regulations to distribute facemasks.”

Last week, people were shocked to learn 34-year-old Dr. Li Wenliang had died after becoming infected with the coronavirus while treating people. Wenliang was the first to discover the coronavirus and used the social media platform WeChat to warn some of his fellow students from medical school about the possibility of another outbreak resembling SARS. Wenliang was reprimanded with seven others by Wuhan police for spreading rumors. In a surprising turn of events, China’s Supreme People’s Court criticized the police for reprimanding Wenliang and others. The doctor managed to grow a large following and international support on his Weibo account up until his death.

Criticism against Chinese authorities has been increasing for their handling of the crisis. Sources have claimed at least 500 hospital staff were infected in Wuhan by the middle of January. The South China Morning reported that medical staff have been instructed to not let the extent of the number of infections become public.