China’s official data on COVID-19 deaths have always been transparent, state media late on Thursday quoted a senior health official as saying, despite the official figures being tiny compared with other countries and reports that the country’s hospitals are overwhelmed with cases of the disease.
Beijing’s release of all virus information was done “in the spirit of openness,” the official told a Chinese State Council news briefing, Xinhua news agency reported.
A national disease control body yesterday said there were about 5,500 new local cases and one death, but with the end of mass testing and the narrowing of criteria for what counts as a COVID-19 fatality, those numbers are no longer believed to reflect reality.
Photo: Reuters
Some experts estimate there might be as many as 9,000 daily deaths.
“China has always been publishing information on COVID-19 deaths and severe cases in the spirit of openness and transparency,” said Jiao Yahui (焦雅輝), director of the Chinese National Health Commission’s Bureau of Medical Administration.
Jiao said that China counts COVID-19 deaths as cases only if they died of respiratory failure induced by the virus after testing positive with a nucleic acid test, rather than other countries that include all deaths within 28 days of positive tests.
“China has always been committed to the scientific criteria for judging COVID-19 deaths, from beginning to end, which are in line with the international criteria,” Jiao said.
The commission last week said it would no longer release an official daily COVID-19 death toll.
Health risk analysis firm Airfinity said it currently estimates 9,000 daily deaths and 1.8 million infections per day in China, while it also expects 1.7 million fatalities across the country by the end of April.
The UK-based research company said its model was based on data from Chinese provinces, before changes to reporting infections were implemented, combined with case growth rates from other countries that tried to suppress the transmission of the virus before lifting restrictions.
China said this week it would end mandatory quarantine on arrival, after earlier this month announcing it had abandoned a raft of tough measures to contain the virus.
The world’s most populous country said it would downgrade its management of COVID-19 from Jan. 8, treating it as a Class B infection, rather than a more serious Class A infection.
Liang Wannian (梁萬年), a senior official at the commission who oversaw China’s COVID-19 response until September 2020, called the moves appropriate, scientific and law-based, Xinhua reported.
The state news agency reported Liang as saying the shift does not mean China is letting the virus go, but that is instead directing resources to the most important areas of controlling the epidemic and treating infected people.
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