China has actually admitted four H5N1 (human) deaths in the last couple of weeks - quite unusual, since they usually hide and lie. Of course these numbers are likely not accurate but they are definitely ramping up the rhetoric on this topic. Why are they doing this is the $64,000 question.
Typically a dictatorship will admit to 1/10 of the actual deaths due to disease, civil unrest, natural disaster or infrastructure failure.