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.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS