These governments are making dubious claims about covid-19 | CNN

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Over the past year, countries around the world have shared data on COVID-19 cases and deaths with the World Health Organization (WHO), information that is crucial in informing the global fight against the disease.

However, three countries stand out for appearing non-transparent or denying the magnitude of the problem.

The East African nation of Tanzania has not updated its COVID-19 data since early May, leaving the latest number of confirmed cases reported at 509 and the death toll at 21.

The Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan, a secretive and highly authoritarian state, "has not reported any COVID-19 cases to the WHO to date," according to a WHO statement.

But human rights groups say the disease is spreading widely there.

Similarly, North Korea has not recorded a single case of COVID-19.

However, most experts view that claim as suspicious.

The isolated country has only tested a fraction of its population of nearly 26 million and has a shared border with China, where the pandemic began.

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Dr Dorit Nitzan, regional emergency director for the WHO Regional Office for Europe, told CNN that 14 countries have reported zero cases so far, adding that the organization "cannot independently verify whether those zero reported cases they represent the true absence of cases or not ”.

The WHO covid-19 control panel does not differentiate between countries that report zero cases of the virus and countries that have not submitted any data.

However, unlike Turkmenistan and North Korea, the other places without cases are small isolated island communities like St. Helena, Kiribati, and Tuvalu.

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"We encourage all countries to share data, publicly or with WHO, as this allows us to track the disease globally," Nitzan added.

"As covid-19 is a contagious disease, case monitoring is especially important, which helps a rapid and appropriate public health response."

The case of Tanzania

In Tanzania, President John Magufuli has repeatedly downplayed the virus, urged citizens to "pray to eliminate the coronavirus" and recommended outlandish cures.

It has also refused to purchase covid-19 vaccines for the population of 58 million, saying they are "dangerous" and "not good for us."

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But the deaths of two senior Tanzanian officials in recent weeks have undermined his claims, and there are signs that Tanzania may be changing its stance.

The US embassy in the country's largest city, Dar es Salaam, warned that cases have increased significantly since January.

Last week, the US ambassador to Tanzania noted that it was "essential to collect and report information on tests and cases" and urged Tanzanian health experts to review the evidence on vaccines.

Dr Peter Drobac, a global health expert at the Saïd School of Business at the University of Oxford in England, told CNN that the pandemic had made clear 'how critical leadership is and how dangerous it is to have leaders who don't be willing to admit the problem and bring people together to respond to the situation.

For example, mixed messages or denial last year around basic interventions like wearing masks helped fuel the rapid spread of the virus in the United States and Brazil, leading to many preventable deaths, he said.

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However, the US and Brazil were tracking the Covid-19 data and eventually the pressure mounted and forced them to take action, Drobac said.

"What's really worrying in places like Tanzania is that we don't even have that data."

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The WHO has taken the unusual step of asking Tanzania twice in recent weeks to start providing transparent data.

The cases involving infected Tanzanians traveling abroad have underscored the need for "vigorous action," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a February 20 statement.

Two people who traveled from Tanzania to the United Kingdom carried the B.1351 variant first detected in South Africa, which appears to be more transmissible than other versions of the virus and which could evade some of the immune protection offered by antibodies.

"The WHO has not yet received information on the measures that Tanzania is taking to respond to the pandemic," said Tedros.

"I renew my call to Tanzania to start reporting Covid-19 cases and share data."

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A day after Tedros' appeal, Magufuli told parishioners in Dar es Salaam that they should protect themselves but wear "locally produced face masks rather than imported from abroad that they are not safe."

The president also insisted that Tanzanians should use local remedies to fight respiratory problems, including steam inhalation, and continue to rely on prayer.

In an Instagram post on the same day, Tanzania's Health Minister Dr. Dorothy Gwajima encouraged the use of traditional herbs to fight infectious diseases and denounced rumors circulating online that a second wave of coronavirus was killing people. many Tanzanians.

Gwajima has not responded to a CNN request for an interview.

But there are signs that your Ministry may be evolving its message.

On February 25, the United States ambassador to Tanzania tweeted that he was glad “to see that the Ministry of Health is now urging Tanzanians to take stronger preventive measures against COVID-19, including wearing a mask, avoiding the crowds and physical distancing.

He tweeted screenshots of a Health Ministry statement dated a day earlier saying that it is "very important for us to increase efforts to take precautions," urging Tanzanians to "wear the proper masks and make sure to use them correctly, especially when attend meetings ”and“ instruct people to avoid unnecessary meetings, even in places of public transport ”.

These steps are likely to be welcomed by world health experts.

Denialism carries great risks, according to Drobac, the first of which is the human cost within the country itself.

Second, he said, “There is a real risk of having wildfires out of control in the broader wildfire of the pandemic.

None of us are safe anywhere until we are all safe everywhere.

This makes Tanzania's neighboring countries like Kenya and Rwanda "really vulnerable" and could undermine the great sacrifices they and others have made to try to contain COVID-19, he said.

Another risk is that of the uncontrolled spread of the virus that leads to the appearance of variants that could reduce the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19, Drobac said.

Turkmenistan

In Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic listed as one of the most repressive nations in the world by Human Rights Watch (HRW), authorities have restricted travel and urged physical distancing and the use of masks, but have not stated that this is due to that covid-19 is circulating in the country.

They are needed to protect against "dust" in the air, the government said last summer.

The HRW 2021 World Report accused the Turkmenistan government of having "recklessly denied and mismanaged the covid-19 epidemic in the country", exacerbating a pre-existing food crisis, and said it had "forced" health workers to keep quiet about the spread of the virus.

The US Embassy in Turkmenistan says on its website that it has received reports "of local citizens with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 being tested for COVID-19 and quarantined in infectious disease hospitals."

It notes that Turkmenistan "may not be willing" to officially recognize any confirmed cases.

Diana Serebryannik, director of the European exile group Human Rights and Freedoms of Turkmen Citizens, described the situation in the country as a "disaster" because the government refused to recognize COVID-19, leaving the sick without access to care. adequate and to most doctors without the basic knowledge to treat them.

His group, which includes two Turkmen doctors, has set up an online service offering consultations to people within Turkmenistan who fall ill with symptoms that could be from Covid-19, he said, adding that he has been in contact with more so far. 3,500 people.

“There is no recognition that this virus is within the country.

And the problem is that the treatment for covid is quite expensive and some people who are in contact with us cannot afford it, "he said, adding that the costs in pharmacies for imported drugs are high.

“Some people are faced with the decision to buy food or some kind of medicine.

Its a big problem".

There are also insufficient oxygen supplies, access to mechanical ventilators is limited, and medical workers lack personal protective equipment, Serebryannik said.

Tests for covid-19 are being done, but only two to three weeks after sick patients seek care, he said, bringing the results negative.

Antibody tests are not being done, he added.

Rachel Denber, HRW's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, told CNN that the government's position that there are no COVID-19 cases in Turkmenistan was "completely false."

“The government has its head in the sand or is being intentionally reckless, but the result is the same: the result is massive misery.

There is no policy to acknowledge the presence of the covid, there is no policy to address the covid and there are no policies to address the food insecurity and poverty that preceded the covid and everything has gotten worse, "he said.

Information is difficult to obtain within Turkmenistan, which has a population of nearly 6 million but has no independent media, according to the independent watchdog group Freedom House.

But, Denber said, "there have been very significant outbreaks of covid, and there were times when the number of funerals that were taking place, according to local sources, was well above normal."

Public health messages promoting measures such as physical distancing have been diluted because they have not been linked to COVID-19, he said.

"As an anecdote, this is combined with a lot of pressure and intimidation against health workers so that they do not talk about the covid, do not recognize that there are cases, do not talk about what they are seeing in their hospitals," Denber added.

Turkmenistan's Ministry of Health has yet to respond to a CNN request for comment on the presence of COVID-19 in the country.

A Health Ministry statement in January said Turkmenistan was the first Central Asian country to register Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against covid-19.

A WHO team that visited the country last July said Turkmenistan "had not reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19 to the WHO to date."

But team leader Dr Catherine Smallwood told a briefing that WHO "advises activating critical public health measures in Turkmenistan as if covid-19 were circulating," Reuters reported.

In August, the WHO expressed concern about the increase in cases of atypical pneumonia in Turkmenistan and urged President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to allow him to carry out independent tests for coronavirus in the country.

A 26-year-old man, Nurgeldi Halykov, who posted a picture of the WHO country team in July on Turkmen.news, a Netherlands-based website, was sentenced to four years in prison in September for what the news outlet and Reporters Without Borders said it was a fabricated fraud charge.

Nitzan, the WHO official, said: “While Turkmenistan has not reported any COVID-19 cases to the WHO to date, the country has activated measures to prevent the transmission of respiratory infections within communities.

Since July 2020, the country has also introduced mandatory individual protection measures and, at times, has implemented restrictive social measures as if covid-19 were circulating.

"WHO continues to work closely with government authorities in Turkmenistan with direct support from its country office to assess health needs and implement actions related to covid-19," he said.

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North Korea

There are also doubts about the accuracy of the data reported by North Korea.

A WHO report issued on January 8 this year said North Korea claimed to have tested 13,257 people and said it had found no positive cases of Covid-19.

The report was based on data from 15 North Korean laboratories that the North Korean Ministry of Public Health provided to the WHO.

Since then no update has been released.

North Korea's priority since the pandemic emerged last year has been to prevent the coronavirus from overwhelming its deteriorating healthcare infrastructure.

Pyongyang voluntarily cut most of its meager ties to the outside world in 2020 to prevent an influx of COVID-19, including cutting off nearly all trade with Beijing, an economic sustenance North Korea needs to prevent its people from starving. .

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The trade crackdown hit the economy, but from a public health standpoint it appears to have worked.

It does not appear that North Korea has suffered major outbreaks of Covid-19 within its borders.

Leader Kim Jong Un has been confident enough to appear in public without wearing a mask multiple times during the pandemic.

North Korea's isolation can protect it to some extent.

But as vaccines gradually open up the prospect of a return to normal life, the corners of the world where the virus hasn't had much of an impact will face a growing threat.

Fighting COVID-19 is everyone's responsibility and diplomatic pressure should be applied to those countries that do not comply with their obligations, Drobac said.

"The longer we allow this virus to spread anywhere, the more lottery tickets we will give the virus so we can create a cool new mutation that will make our lives really difficult," he said.

"It is not just a potential tragedy for the people of the country themselves, it is a risk for all of us."

CNN's Stephanie Busari, Radina Gigova, Bethlehem Eoin McSweeney, Hannah Ritchie, Yoonjung Seo, and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.

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