China defends its coronavirus data after report says US intelligence doubted numbers

China on Thursday denied that it hid the true number of its people who have been infected and killed by the coronavirus outbreak, decrying accusations of concealment as a “despicable attempt to put political interests above human life.”

The blistering statement came a day after Bloomberg, citing three U.S. officials, reported that a classified U.S. intelligence report concluded that China’s public tally of COVID-19 infections and deaths is purposefully incomplete.

In a statement to CNBC, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said that Beijing ”has fully honored its obligation of notification prescribed by the International Health Regulations, and has been updating the statistics of its confirmed and death cases in an open, transparent and responsible manner.”

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