New Delhi: since Abandoning its strict ‘zero-Covid’ policy last month, China’s death toll has exploded, with nearly 60,000 people dying of Covid in the country since the beginning of December. Earlier on November 20, the country had Reported The three deaths as the first few in six months.
The National Health Commission in China said on Saturday that 5,503 more people died in December due to respiratory failure caused by the virus, and another 54,435 died of other diseases associated with Covid, according to the international news agency AFP. The official number stood at 5,272 as of 8 January.
According to the now narrowed definition of COVID deaths in China, however, only 5,503 people who died of respiratory failure would be marked as COVID deaths.
The commission also said that this is only a count of deaths in hospitals, indicating that the number could be higher if the number of Covid deaths at home is included.
Still, the latest figures show China’s death toll has almost doubled since early December. 10,775.
It also comes at a time when studies are predicting that the Covid death toll in China is set to cross one lakh.
The US-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has Estimate More than one million people in the country could die from the virus by the year 2023, with cases peaking around April 1, when the death toll will reach 322,000.
The study says that by then about a third of China’s population would have been infected.
follow what’s happening seen As the international community grapples with another Covid wave – the biggest ever – there is a worldwide clamor for the Chinese government to share more data.
World Health Organization (WHO) Sunday asked China to share more data on outbreak.
“Reliable and current data allow a better understanding of epidemiological situations,” the organization said, adding that such data should be shared with them as well as citizens.
The government had stopped reporting Covid data since January 8, prompting international concerns that a lack of transparency in data sharing could be downplaying the true impact of the country’s massive outbreak. Concerns were raised by the country’s decision in early December to lift almost all of its hardline Covid restrictions following protests by citizens over a ‘zero-Covid’ policy.
disease modelers at the University of Hong Kong have Predicted that lifting Covid restrictions and reopening all provinces at once could result in 684 deaths per million people between December 2022 and January 2023. However, their paper is yet to be peer reviewed.
Read also: China finally releases Covid data but citizens don’t believe it’s just 60,000 deaths
China’s ‘zero-covid’ and vaccination policies
According to China’s Zero-Covid Policy, the country had said that its goal in fighting Covid was to keep the number of cases as close to zero as possible. To achieve this, it implemented mass testing, quarantined the sick in government facilities, and imposed strict lockdowns.
When these restrictions were lifted, Beijing accepted The scale of the outbreak meant that tracking the numbers was now impossible. Compare this with his stand on December 21 and 22 last year when he Reported Zero Covid deaths.
“At present, the prevention and control of COVID-19 in China is facing a new situation and new tasks,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a directive in December, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“We should launch patriotic health campaigns in a more targeted manner… strengthen the community defense line for epidemic prevention and control, and effectively protect people’s lives, safety and health,” he said.
China has an elderly population disproportionate Got vaccinated. While 90 percent of the country’s population has been vaccinated, only about 69 percent of people over the age of 60 have received more than three doses. Of these, only about 40 percent of people above 80 years have taken three doses.
Vaccination is not compulsory in China and previous attempts to ban those who have not been vaccinated have been unsuccessful.
Read also: China prepares for Covid holiday surge as people leave megacities for hometowns