The World Health Organization has called on China to share more information on its surge in Covid-19 cases, after Beijing over the weekend reported almost 60,000 deaths since abandoning strict pandemic restrictions last month. The WHO said in a statement that its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had spoken with Ma Xiaowei, head of China’s National Health Commission, about the country’s Covid-19 situation and was analysing the new data shared by Chinese authorities.

It said Chinese officials had provided information “on a range of topics, including outpatient clinics, hospitalisations, patients requiring emergency treatment and critical care, and hospital deaths related to Covid-19 infection”.

But the WHO added that it had “requested a more detailed breakdown of data by province over time”.