Wu Peng (center) with his schoolmates Photo: Courtesy of Wu Peng

Wu Peng, an overseas Chinese graduate student has become popular with many British people who wait for his daily graphic updates of UK’s COVID-19 data the way some viewers wait for popular TV series, with some even jokingly calling for him to become prime minister. Wu, who is studying at UK’s Leeds University, told the Global Times that his popularity comes from his objectivity and he will continue the work until the outbreak is curbed in the UK like it is in China. 

Every afternoon, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) releases data as of 9 am that day. Wu’s graphics based on these official numbers are usually the most well received. He uses a line chart to describe infections, fatalities and the trend, and a bar graph of people who have been tested and the percentage of people who are confirmed of infections. 

Wu Peng’s line chart and bar graph of UK’s COVID-19 data Photo Screenshot of Twitter

 

Wu Peng’s line chart and bar graph of UK’s COVID-19 data Photo Screenshot of Twitter

Wu started posting on March 5 and said he made the charts to better understand the growth trend behind the numbers. “The DHSC started releasing numbers in early March but only of total number of tested people and how many are positive or negative, which is unclear for people trying to track the development of the COVID-19 outbreak. So I made the graphs to show it in an accessible way,” Wu said.

He told the Global Times that his first post on March 5 only received five likes, but the number spiked to 288 the following day, prompting him to believe that “the public are paying attention to the graphs and think they are helpful.”

With netizens’ encouragement and support, Wu is now compiling his graphs on a daily basis.

DHSC started updating graphic data on March 10, but Wu noted the updates are slow and “not readable or specific enough.”

DHSC graphic data Photo: Screenshot of DHSC website

Wu’s graphs are gradually improving based on netizens’ suggestions, as his first post only has a confirmation line and an index line of future trends. He later added deaths, and explained the function he used to calculate the index. The confirmation rate bar chart was also added based on netizens’ advice. 

As someone who has been keeping track of COVID-19 statistics in UK, Wu has a vivid experience of how it developed from 115 the first day he started the records to more than 60,000 today. “It is heartbreaking and upsetting for me,” Wu said. 

Wu identified two time nodes in the course, one on February 29 when human-to-human transmissions occurred and the infections started to spike. Another is March 28 and 29 when the rate of increase in new cases slowed, four to five days after lockdown measures were implemented. 

British people are more optimistic than Wu, as most did not panic even after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to an intensive care unit due to worsening COVID-19 symptoms. Wu’s friends and acquaintances expressed good wishes for his recovery. 

“This optimism also hampered locals from observing social distancing despite the lockdown. On the one hand, we see increasing infections. On the other hand, people lack awareness of how serious it is,” Wu said.

Wu will update the graphic posts until the outbreak in the UK is curbed and becomes as stable as it is in China. “I can imagine how excited people will be when that day comes.”

Some netizens are already looking forward to that day, and Twitter user Sammi Watson commented, “We’re all going to band together to get Peng knighted when this is all over, right guys?”

Photo: Screenshot of Twitter

Others are using the hashtag #PengForPM to recognize his work and urging the DHSC to do more to control and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

Wu’s motivation behind his work is simple. “I just want to record and display it in an objective way,” he said, noting netizens followed his posts simply because he is “not biased” and is doing it from a scientific perspective without including ideology. 

Photo: Screenshot of Twitter