Passengers wearing masks are seen traveling on the Victoria Line in London on Sunday. Patrick Vallance, the UK government's chief scientific adviser, said in broadcast interviews Friday that Britain could let about 60 percent of the population become infected with the COVID-19 for "herd immunity." Photo: AFP

The Chinese embassy in the UK has refuted rumors that a Chinese student at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) apparently died from COVID-19 due to a lack of treatment. 

The embassy said Wednesday morning that they had never received such a report from UK authorities, and that the college they reached also denied the rumor. 

The announcement came after posts went viral on a Chinese social media platform on Tuesday saying a Chinese woman studying at LSE died at home after being refused treatment by the National Health Service, despite having a fever.

The LSE Chinese alumni association refuted the rumor on its Sina Weibo account on Tuesday night, clarifying that two students have tested positive for COVID-19 in LSE, but neither is Chinese.

LSE announced on Twitter on March 13 that two students on the campus were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, without releasing their personal information, including nationality. 

The Global Times reporter also found a similar post on Twitter, saying that two Chinese students in the UK (one in Manchester and another at LSE) had died of the novel coronavirus because they couldn't get the required treatment, urging the UK government to take action immediately.

The UK government previously announced it would implement a "herd immunity" strategy in the face of the deadly COVID-19, which was widely criticized by the international community as a surrender to the virus and very irresponsible to its people and the world. 

Amid the criticism, the UK government denied it had ever officially accepted the "herd immunity" policy and on Monday abruptly called on vulnerable and elderly residents to isolate themselves for 12 weeks, and introduced a variety of social distancing and quarantine recommendations. 

   

Global Times