'Naive' to suggest China dealt well with coronavirus, says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron has questioned China's methods of tackling the coronavirus pandemic by calling it ''naive'' to suggestthat China had dealt better with the crisis.

In an interview, Macron said that"things happened that we don't know about".

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The comments came afteran article on the Chinese embassy's website sparked a row sparked. It had claimedthat Western countries had ''left the elderly to die in care homes''.

However, China dismissed the row as a "misunderstanding".

Government spokesman Zhao Lijian said China had never made any negative comments about how France was coping with the epidemic "and has no intention of making any".

The foreign ministry summoned China's ambassador to "express disapproval".

France has recorded141,000 cases of Covid-19 and nearly 18,000 deaths.

Whereas, China has recorded 4,632 deaths - including an extra 1,290 deaths announced on Friday in the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic started and where a strict lockdown has only recently been lifted.

Countries including the US, the UK and France have questioned China's transparency over the outbreak.