Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language opinion column "The Real Point."

U.S. President Donald Trump has found a new way to divert attention from his administration's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic by accusing China of covering up deaths. His assertion that the Chinese mortality rate from COVID-19 is "far higher" than in the United States is a politicized move, which truly challenges the boundaries of morality.

Saving lives has always been the top priority during the epidemic containment in China. In fact, it's about the respect toward life that has moved authorities in Wuhan, the hardest hit Chinese city during the pandemic, to revise its number of fatalities from 2,579 to 3,869 after an in-depth review following the outbreak.

The undercount is not a surprise, especially when a health system is overwhelmed at the very beginning of an emergency. During the early outbreak, several factors resulted in belated, missed and mistaken reporting. For example, the surging number of patients overwhelmed medical resources and the admission capacity of medical institutions, as well as some patients dying at home without having been treated in hospitals.

As WHO epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who participated in an international mission to China in February, pointed out, accurate reporting can be a challenge during an outbreak. She expects "many countries are going to be in a similar situation where they will have to go back and review records and look to see: Did we capture all of them?"

When questions were raised about why China's death rate was lower than figures in Western countries with advanced medical facilities and developed medical technology, Science magazine came up with an answer. In March, it published a research report suggesting that "without the Wuhan travel ban and the national emergency response, there would have been more than 700,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of Wuhan," adding that the control measures effectively reduced the predicted number of cases in the first 50 days by 96 percent.

The facts have been deliberately ignored by certain politicians in Washington who, at that early stage of the outbreak, should have concentrated on efficiently tackling the heath emergency. Today, they are still devoting more time and energy on attacking the Chinese. An article by The New York Times notes that Republicans increasingly believe that elevating China's culpability for spreading the coronavirus may be the best way to improve their difficult election chances.

However, not everybody is accepting the excuses at face value. On Sunday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he has asked the federal government for help many times but has received no response from the president and the vice president. To Trump, he said, "You're usually really talkative. You usually have an opinion on everything. How on earth do you not have an opinion on aid to American cities and states?"

Keeping silent and remaining indifferent on key issues concerning the lives of your citizens, while spending energy to spread lies and pass the buck to whoever available, is at the heart of the Trump administration these days. In addition, it is probably the root cause behind the U.S.'s failure in containing the spread of the disease.

If Washington continues to politicize the pandemic and the victims, it will undoubtedly become the greatest sorrow for American people. The politicians who attempt to fend off the crisis with lies are likely to find themselves plunging further into the abyss. 

The world won't be fooled.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)