"Vaporized Without a Trace"... Suddenly Disappeared 150,000 Elderly People in Hubei Province, China

Hong Kong Media: "150,000 Elderly Disappeared from China's COVID-19 Epicenter"
Authorities Report Official Cumulative COVID-19 Deaths Across China at 4,636

Ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, shops are bustling with crowds flocking to the flower market in Wuhan to buy chrysanthemums. Photo by weibo

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Suspicions have been raised that about 150,000 elderly people in Hubei Province, China, suddenly disappeared after COVID-19 was first reported at the end of 2019.

On the 17th, Hong Kong's Apple Daily cited a report from Radio Free Asia (RFA), stating that in the first quarter of last year, the names of about 150,000 elderly people aged 80 and above suddenly vanished from the pension list in Hubei Province. RFA conveyed this information citing data from the Hubei Provincial Civil Affairs Department.

According to the report, local officials have provided no explanation for the disappearance of about 150,000 names from the elderly pension list and have also prohibited the media and the public from compiling statistics on the number of funerals and burials conducted during that period.

In response, local activists analyzed various official announcements by the authorities and found that about 410,000 cremations were carried out in Hubei Province in the first quarter of last year. In the same period in 2019, there were 374,000 cremations, and in 2018, 360,000 cremations, confirming a sharp increase in cremation numbers last year.

According to official statistics from the Chinese authorities, the cumulative COVID-19 death toll in Wuhan is 3,869, and the official cumulative death toll across China is 4,636.

Apple Daily explained that the RFA report came after a CNN report that the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation team, which recently visited Wuhan to investigate the origin of COVID-19, confirmed the spread of 13 different variant viruses with distinct genetic sequences in Wuhan in December 2019.

Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, who led the WHO Wuhan investigation team, stated in an interview with CNN, "By December 2019, the virus was already widely spreading in Wuhan," adding, "This suggests that there may have been more than 1,000 COVID-19 infections in Wuhan at that time."