China COVID: 60 thousand deaths due to corona in China! questions arise on data

Corona has created an outcry in China. Before the new year, the new variant of Corona had knocked in China. Hospitals in China were filled with Corona patients. The death toll from Corona in China was also increasing continuously, but China had never officially released the death toll.

Amid questions arising from all over the world, China has issued a bulletin on Saturday for the first time after the withdrawal of the Zero COVID policy. In this bulletin, the death toll from COVID is around 60 thousand. China abruptly ended its strict three-year anti-virus regime of frequent testing, travel bans and massive lockdowns after widespread protests in early December, and cases have since soared across the country of 1.4 billion. 

60 thousand people deaths 

For the first time after the withdrawal of the Zero COVID policy, China has released the death toll from Corona. Xiao Yahui, head of the Medical Administration Bureau of China's National Health Commission, released the figures at a press conference. He said that more than 60 thousand people in China have lost their lives due to corona related diseases. 

Xiao Yahui further pointed out that between December 8 and January 12, the total number of corona-related deaths in Chinese hospitals totaled 59,938. Out of this, 5,503 people died due to difficulty in breathing due to corona.

Terrible era of Corona is over

According to Xiao Yahui, now the peak of Corona is over. In December, Corona was creating havoc in China. The daily number of people visiting hospitals was 2.9 million on 23 December and has now dropped by 83 per cent to 477,000 on Thursday. 

Xiao said at a press conference, "These data released by China show that the national emergency peak of Corona has passed."

Questions arise on data

Questions are being raised on the death figures of Corona released by China. The Chinese government has told the death toll to be 60 thousand, but in reality these figures can be even more frightening. In August 2022, China changed the method of counting deaths from Corona. China has linked only deaths due to respiratory disease and pneumonia to Corona. This method is completely different from the formula prescribed by the World Health Organization.

Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, 'It is unclear whether the new data accurately reflects the actual death toll because doctors were pressured not to report corona-related deaths and the numbers were inflated. Only deaths in hospitals were included. What about those who were in remote areas and could not reach the hospitals. Many elders in rural areas died at home but were not tested for corona due to lack of testing kits or their reluctance to get tested. 

WHO had warned

The World Health Organization has been continuously warning China to be cautious about Corona. The WHO had warned about the timely celebration and traffic of Lunar New Year in China. There is a possibility of 200 crore people coming and going in the Lunar New Year, in such a situation there was an increase in the cases of corona.

China reopened its borders on 8 January. Air travel was also resumed in China despite increasing cases of infection and rising death toll. According to WHO's warning, the cases of corona in China had increased rapidly at this time.