China assured on Wednesday that it did not register a single death from covid-19after changing the criteria to define deaths from the coronavirus, despite a wave of infections in the country.
(In addition: ‘saturated’ crematoriums in China due to the increase in covid cases)
Some hospitals are full, pharmacy shelves are empty and crematoriums are overflowing after the government decided to end its policy of confinements, quarantines and massive tests to contain the coronavirus.
Chinese epidemiologist Wang Guiqiang declared on Tuesday that the deaths of covid patients caused by underlying diseases “are not counted as covid deaths,” the Global Times newspaper reported today.
China had imposed health restrictions since 2020 in the name of the so-called “zero covid” policy, which made it possible to protect the people at highest risk and the least vaccinated.
But the government ended most of these measures without warning in early Decemberin a context of growing exasperation of the population and considerable impact on the economy.
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The number of cases has skyrocketed since then, which raises fears of high mortality among the elderly, especially vulnerable.
The Chinese government announced on Tuesday that Only those who died directly from respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus will count in the covid death statistics.
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According to the authorities, this “scientific” methodology provides a much more limited picture of the situation.
“After being infected with the omicron variant, the main cause of death is the underlying diseases. Only a small part die directly from respiratory failure caused by COVID,” said Wang Guiqiang, a Beijing city health official.
Likewise, he pointed out that deaths caused by “cardiovascular diseases” are not registered as deaths from covid.
(Also read: The details of the diplomatic crisis that broke out between Peru and Mexico)The change in methodology means that a large number of deaths will no longer be recorded as due to covid.
The obstacles behind the official figures
Officially, China has announced 5,241 covid deaths since the pandemic began.
Videos shared on social networks show long lines at crematoriums in cities like Beijingwhile some users of Weibo, equivalent to Twitter, assure that “it is impossible” that the number of casualties offered is real.
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“I know of many more people who have died in recent days apart from those figures that we see in the statistics,” says one user, while another makes calculations and ensures that in Beijing, where more than 20 million people live, they will die. at least 15,000 residents this winter.
Beijing admitted last week that the scale of the outbreak has become “impossible” to trace since the end of mandatory testing.
A leading Chinese health expert warned on Tuesday that the capital would face a spike in infections in the next two weeks, lasting until the end of January.
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According to official figures, only seven patients have died from covid since the restrictions were lifted. However, the authorities reduced this number to six on Wednesday, without giving any explanation.
The United States said on Tuesday that it was willing to supply China with covid-19 vaccines. “It is in the interest of the international community that we collectively help China keep (the outbreak) under control,” Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, told reporters.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*
With information from AFP and EFE
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