This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway, and this edition is published in the early hours of Wednesday

11 January. Is China covering up huge numbers of Covid deaths? A Washington Post investigation

finds big cues at Chinese crematoriums? We ask what's going on. Up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers will

travel to the US next week to start training on the Patriot Missile System, and a disturbing and

growing trend in Colombia. A woman that very poor renting their room because it was the only way

that they can make a living. It was so cheap and without any revelation.

Also in the podcast, the Vatican reopens a murder investigation for decades on, and

the

Singing Bus Driver here in England taking social media by storm.

In the first few weeks after China lifted its zero Covid policy, an estimated quarter of a

billion people were infected with the virus, given the limited effectiveness of Chinese vaccines,

and the lack of widespread natural immunity, there were fears of a huge death toll,

with some experts predicting a million dead this year. And yet, the communist authorities in Beijing

say fewer than 40 people have died of Covid in China since the 7th of December. However,

journalists suggest that the reality is rather different. A Washington Post investigation has

found that crematoriums in China are swamped, with relatives queuing through the night,

police keeping order, and touts or scalpers selling spaces in the line. Lily Quo is China

Bureau Chief for the Washington Post. We looked at satellite imagery of funeral homes in six cities,

and in these images you can see an increase in cars and people outside the funeral homes

in December and January, compared to either the months before this current outbreak or the same

time period last year. We also spoke with workers at the funeral homes and residents who visited

...