China’s health authorities disclosed on Saturday, January 14, that nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths occurred in the country during the last one month. The disclosure came after the country was chastised for failing to share data on the status of the pandemic. While disclosing the figure, the country reportedly said that the “emergency peak” of the latest surge appears to have passed.
Jiao Yahui, the head of the Bureau of Medical Administration under the National Health Commission, told a press conference that the country logged in 59,938 Covid-related deaths between December 8, 2022, and January 12 this year.
The health organisation also stated that the death toll only included deaths that happened in hospitals, and that the actual toll is likely to be greater because it does not include individuals who died at home. According to the National Health Commission, 5,503 deaths were caused by COVID-19-related respiratory failure, and 54,435 deaths were caused by other underlying illnesses combined with COVID-19.
The average age of those who died was 80.3, and 90% of fatalities were aged 65 or over, South China Morning Post reported.
Earlier it was reported that the ‘zero Covid’ policy imposed by the Chinese government which had triggered massive protests across the country, had failed and that there was a huge spike in cases. The government relaxed all the ‘toughest’ restrictions imposed upon people’s movements in China as a part of the ‘zero Covid’ policy, likely resulting in a spike of cases across the land. The country also happened to relax the Covid test norms and allow the people to run a few businesses in their normal capacity.
It also allowed underground businesses such as bars, internet cafes, gymnasiums, dine-in services, hotel conferences, training, and banquets to operate in normal capacities.
On January 8, China reopened its borders to international travelers after a nearly three-year closure.
While China wants the world to believe its numbers of cases and the vaccine developments, the World Health Organisation said that China is “heavily underreporting” the number of COVID-19 deaths from the current wave of the virus sweeping the country.
“WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported in China. This is in relation to the definitions that are used but also to the need for doctors and those reporting in the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged,” Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme said in Geneva.
