Limited data on coronavirus may be skewing assumptions about severity

Health officials in China are mainly counting severe cases of disease as they quickly try to contain a new coronavirus outbreak — and the exclusion of milder cases may mean the infection has a much wider reach, and perhaps a lower fatality rate. The problem is unintentional, according to experts: When thousands of sick people show up at hospitals, monitoring those who may have stayed at home with milder symptoms becomes less of a priority.

The WHO yesterday praised China’s coronavirus response. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who just returned from a trip to China, told reporters that China’s actions “actually helped prevent the spread of coronavirus to other countries.” After refraining last week from declaring the outbreak an international public health emergency, the WHO is convening an expert committee again today to weigh the global threat. As of this morning, at least 170 people have died, and more than 7,700 have been infected.