China said on Saturday nearly 60,000 people with COVID-19 had died in hospitals since it abandoned its zero-Covid-19 policy last month, a big jump from previously reported figures that followed global criticism of the country’s coronavirus data.
In early December, Beijing abruptly dismantled a strict three-year anti-virus regime of testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns after protests spread in late November, and cases have since risen across the country of 1.4 billion.
Health officials said Saturday that the COVID-19 fever and emergency hospitalizations have peaked and the number of hospitalized patients continues to decline.
Between December 8 and January 12, the number of deaths related to COVID in Chinese hospitals reached 59,938, Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of Medical Administration at the National Health Commission (NHC), told a media briefing.
Of those deaths, 5,503 were caused by respiratory failure due to COVID and the rest due to a combination of COVID and other illnesses, he said.
While international health experts predict at least 1 million deaths related to COVID this year, China previously reported more than 5,000 deaths since the pandemic, one of the lowest death rates in the world.
Authorities have reported five or more deaths a day over the past month — a figure inconsistent with the long lines seen at funeral homes and body bags seen leaving crowded hospitals.
The World Health Organization said this week that China has not reported any deaths from COVID, although it is now providing more information about the outbreak.
The UN agency did not immediately comment on Saturday.
China, which last reported its daily COVID-19 death toll on Monday, has repeatedly defended the accuracy of its data on the disease.
On Saturday, Jiao said that China is dividing the COVID-related deaths between those from respiratory failure due to the coronavirus infection and those from diseases combined with the coronavirus infection.
“These standards are in line with those adopted by the World Health Organization and other major countries,” he said.
Last month, Chinese health experts at a government news conference said that only deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after exposure to COVID would be classified as COVID deaths. A heart attack or cardiovascular disease that results in the death of an infected person will not qualify for this classification.
Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said the tenfold increase announced on Saturday showed that the reversal of China’s COVID policy was “absolutely linked” to a sharp increase in cases and deaths, particularly among those infected. parents.
However, he said, it’s unclear whether the new data accurately reflects actual deaths because doctors are reluctant to report COVID-related deaths and the number only includes hospital deaths.
“In rural areas, for example, many elderly people die at home but are not tested for Covid because they lack access to test kits or refuse to be tested,” he said.
‘Trend Down’
Jiao, China’s health official, said the number of patients requiring emergency treatment is decreasing and the share of patients at fever clinics testing positive for COVID-19 is also continuing to decline. The number of severe cases has also increased, he added, although it remains at a high level, and the patients are mostly elderly.
Officials said China will strengthen the supply of drugs and medical equipment in rural areas and increase training of frontline medical staff in the region.
“The number of fever clinic visitors is generally on a downward trend after the peak, both in urban and rural areas,” Jiao said.
A sharp rise in travel ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions return home from cities to small towns and villages, has fueled fears of an increase in cases during the festivities that begin on January 21.
This week, the WHO warned of the risks of holiday travel. China reopened its borders on January 8.
Despite concerns about infections, air passenger volumes in China have recovered to 63% of 2019 levels since the annual travel season began on January 7, industry regulators said on Friday.
The Ministry of Transport predicts that the volume of passenger traffic will increase by 99.5% in the year during the migration of the festival, which will last until February 15, or recover to 70.3% of the level of 2019.
In the Chinese gambling hub of Macau, 46,000 people entered each day on Friday, the highest number since the pandemic began, the majority from the mainland, the city government said. It expects the Spring Festival boom in tourism.