hope these figures are WRONG
In the first few months of 2020, as the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic sprouted in China, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
published figures showing a drop of about 21 million cellphone users and 840,000 landline users. According to The Associated Press, online data published by China’s three largest cellphone carriers indicated that for January and February 2020, China Mobile Ltd. reported a drop of nearly 7.25 million subscribers, while China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. lost 7.8 million subscribers and China Telecom Corp. lost 5.6 million in February alone.
As of April 2020, China had
reported a total of about 81,000 COVID-19 cases and about 3,300 deaths from the disease. Some sources seized on the disparity between the numbers of afflicted and cellphone subscribers to assert that the true COVID-19 death in China had been concealed and vastly underreported.
“21 Million Fewer Cellphone Users in China May Suggest a High CCP Virus Death Toll,” proclaimed a
headline in
The Epoch Times. “China Is Lying About the Number of COVID-19 Deaths,”