China acknowledged the first two covid-19 deaths since Dec. 3 on Monday, four days before the Asian giant shelved its strict zero covid policy and resigned itself to living with the coronavirus amid the worst surge in infections to date. today. The drastic abandonment of this strategy that the authorities had clung to for nearly three years has caused new cases to skyrocket, especially in Beijing. However, contrary to what happened in the rest of the countries when there was an increase in infections, the official number of deaths is practically nil, which has raised questions as to whether the authorities’ count transparently reflects the actual number of deaths .
The deceased, both registered in Beijing, were notified on Monday by the National Health Commission after several international media outlets published evidence of dozens of coronavirus-related deaths over the weekend. EL PAÍS, which spoke to doctors working on the frontline in the area and contacted the Pingfang Dongjiao crematorium, located in the capital’s largest district, could not confirm this information, although the doctors said the increase of cases has strained the capital’s health resources. Officially, China has recorded just 5,237 deaths since the start of the pandemic, a paltry number for its more than 1.4 billion people.
Yanzhong Huang, global health specialist at the think tanks The American Council on Foreign Relations states that “the number [oficial] it is clearly lower than the number of deaths from covid ”. This expert believes the data may reflect “the state’s lack of ability to effectively monitor and control the disease situation on the ground after ending massive PCR campaigns, but it could also be due to an effort to prevent panic from spreading.” among the population facing the increase in deaths from covid,” quotes Reuters.
Some health experts have warned that the death toll in the Asian giant could exceed 1.5 million in the coming months, due to the fact that the most populous nation on the planet lacks gang immunity after three years of massive lockdowns. and mobility was severely restricted both within and outside the country. According to a study carried out by three professors of the University of Hong Kong and published last week on the Medrxiv server (pending review), the simultaneous removal of covid restrictions in all provinces of China would cause a hospitalization request between 1.5 and 2.5 times higher than the capacity of hospitals, which could cause up to 684 deaths per million inhabitants.
Another key factor is that vaccination rates among the elderly remain very low. According to the state news agency Xinhua, nearly 87% of the over 60s have been vaccinated with the full schedule, but the percentage drops to 66.4% among the over 80s. In late November, the government announced ahead of the “new situation” of the covid a plan to speed up the vaccination of the elderly, the most vulnerable group but also the most reluctant to get vaccinated. According to a study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Hong Kong government, with vaccination coverage of 85% of the fourth dose and antiviral coverage of 60%, the number of deaths can be reduced by 26%. and 35%.
On Monday, users of Weibo, China’s Twitter, questioned the veracity of the official figures. “This is the first time deaths have been reported since the policy change. Reporting the deceased and serious cases truthfully is the right thing to do, but the more you hide, the more panic will arise,” Jianyujuan writes. “If it’s not true, then don’t say it,” criticizes Tangnaoya.
Other users on this social network are also wondering about the recent death of two veteran journalists (Yang Lianghua, 74, and Zhou Zichun, 77) who had tested positive for covid, news reported by Chinese media on Friday. caixinwhich is privately owned. Their deaths are proof that the official story is flawed. In both cases, second caixin, it was the family environment that provided the information. On Saturday, this outlet also reported that a 23-year-old medical student had died after contracting the disease. It is not known whether any of these deaths were included in the official death toll released by authorities on Monday.
