The Chinese Communist Party has deliberately masked the total number of COVID-19 cases in China in a bid to safeguard its image both nationally and internationally, according to China experts as well as evidence documented by The Epoch Times. As more countries express anger and frustration over Beijing’s botched handling of the virus—fueled by a wide-reaching coverup—half a dozen experts told The Epoch Times the regime is undeniably underreporting cases of the virus, but to what extent is up for debate. Beijing itself publicly admitted to hiding the number of people with the disease when it announced it would start reporting cases of asymptomatic carriers on April 1, revealing that it hadn’t been doing so. China’s National Health Commission also acknowledged that asymptomatic carriers can infect others and cause outbreaks, which it had previously dismissed.