Posted for David Cyranoski

The Chinese government has sent inspection teams to check on H1N1 reporting after a famed Chinese doctor accused local governments of covering up swine flu cases.

Zhong Nanshan of Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in southern China, called into question the official number of deaths from H1N1, telling the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper that the quoted figure of 53 was too low. “I just don’t believe that there have been 53 H1N1 deaths nationwide,” he said.

Yesterday Ministry of Health spokesman Deng Haihua, said any officials who do not carry out their H1N1 reporting duties or who delay reporting will be “held accountable”. He also said that teams had been sent to inspect pandemic control. In total nine groups have been sent to Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Hunan, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang (official statement).

While many have pointed out that limitations on testing capacity have led to an underreporting, Zhong suggested that some hospitals were intentionally not testing those who died from pneumonia for H1N1.

His words carry weight because he shot to fame during the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 for quickly recognizing and reacting to the threat posed by the new virus while government officials around the country tried to cover it up.

All Nature’s pandemic flu coverage is collected on our news special page