beijing. China reported nearly 60,000 covid-19-related deaths on Saturday in just over a month, the first major death toll published by the government since it eased its strict sanitary measures in December.
“A total of 59,938” deaths related to covid-19 were recorded “between December 8, 2022 and January 12, 2023,” Jiao Yahui, head of the medical administration office, told a press conference. of the National Health Commission.
This balance does not include deaths registered outside hospitals.
The figure includes 5,503 deaths caused by respiratory failure directly due to the virus, and 54,435 deaths caused by underlying diseases combined with Covid, Jiao said.
China has been accused of failing to declare all deaths caused by the virus since it abandoned its “zero covid” policy in December.
According to the health authorities, the average age of the deceased is 80.3 years and more than 90 percent of the fatalities were over 65 years of age. Most suffered from underlying diseases.
