Don't hide virus truth, local officials told

The Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday vowed to punish officials who underreport the H1N1 flu pandemic following criticism from a prominent medical expert who cast doubt on China's official death toll from the disease.

Some medical experts have wondered aloud whether the country's H1N1 data matches the reality. They pointed to limitations in medical capacity and the fact that hospitals are not testing everyone with flu symptoms for H1N1 as reasons why the outbreak may have been underreported.

But Zhong Nanshan, a Guangzhou-based doctor famous for his candor in exposing a cover-up of the SARS epidemic in 2003, took concerns a step further, suggesting some local governments had deliberately concealed suspected cases.