WATCH: Patty Hajdu REFUSES to criticize China or WHO, defends earlier comments

On April 2, Health Minister Patty Hajdu credited China and their coronavirus figures around infection and death, defending their validity, despite reports saying otherwise.

“There’s no indication that the data that came out of China in terms of their infection rate and their death rate was falsified in any way,” said Hajdu, citing the World Health Organization as a source of authority, despite repeated reports at the time dismissing both Chinese and WHO reports.

In an interview with the CBC's Vassy Kapelos, Hajdu again opted not to criticize the authoritarian regime. Instead, Hajdu said that the post-pandemic era will be a time of reflection, and again gave credit to China for updating their death figures after international scrutiny.

Regarding her previous comment, minister Hajdu said that "research evolves."

"It is difficult to gather accurate data when you're in the middle of an outbreak... Even China has gone back to clarify the number of people the number of deaths that have occured, and I can understand that as well."

"I think there will be plenty of post-pandemic review opportunities, not just for China, but for the World Health Organization and indeed for Canada," said Hajdu.

When pressed on the figures by Kapelos, noting specifically that China had repeatedly presented false information that was presented by the WHO as fact, Hajdu again opted for an answer that refused to criticize the regime.

"We're working with information that we had at the time. The WHO has been a trusted organization for a very long time," said Hajdu.

On April 2, Hajdu told a reporter that his question on falsified Chinese information was "feeding into conspiracy theories that many people have been perpetuating on the internet." Now, Hajdu says that she told the reporter that she said there were "a number of conspiracy theories floating around."

"Do we still rely on the World Health Organization? Yes, we're actually a partner country," Hajdu said.

Hajdu was then asked about whether or not there should be an investigation into China's pandemic behaviour, to which Hajdu said she didn't "have all the evidence about what China did and didn't do."

Hajdu's refusal to put any blame on China has earned her fans overseas, specifically in the Chinese Communist Party. The bureau chief at the China Daily, a Chinese Communist Party outlet, called Health Minister Patty Hajdu a role model after the minister dismissed reports of falsified and inaccurate coronavirus information.

China Daily's Chen Welhua called Hajdu a "role model" and a "disappointment to those paparazzi journalists and fearmongers" in a reply to True North's Andrew Lawton.