China officially reported its first Covid-related deaths on Monday, fueling fears that this could be the beginning of a gloomy trend as the virus spreads throughout the country. The government began removing strict anti-virus controls earlier this month.
The two deaths on Monday were the first that the National Health Commission (NHC) had reported since December 3, just a few days before Beijing said it would end curbs that had largely kept the virus under control for three years but sparked widespread protests last month.
However, on Saturday, a Reuters journalist in Beijing observed about 20 yellow body bags containing corpses on the floor of an adjacent funeral parlor and hearses carrying the deceased lining the driveway to a designated Covid-19 crematorium. Reuters was unable to determine right away whether the deaths were caused by Covid-19.
State media reported on Monday that people in Chongqing, one of China’s largest cities, who have symptoms of Covid-19 can now go to work “as normal.”
Deaths from Covid According to official statistics, the pandemic has resulted in only 5,237 deaths from Covid in China, including the most recent two. This is a small portion of the country’s 1.4 billion population and is extremely low by global standards.
Additionally, the NHC reported 1,995 symptomatic infections on December 18, down from 2,097 the day before.
It stopped reporting cases without symptoms last week, citing a decrease in the number of mandatory PCR tests following China’s policy shift.
Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly doubtful that China’s data accurately depict the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground.
On China’s Weibo platform, which is similar to Twitter, a hashtag about the two Covid-19 deaths quickly rose to the top of the trending topics on Monday morning.
“If statistics aren’t complete, what’s the point?” asked one client. ” Isn’t this a form of public dishonesty? wrote a second.
On Saturday, employees at a dozen Beijing funeral homes told Reuters that they were busier than usual.
Respected Chinese media outlet Caixin reported on Friday that two state media journalists had contracted Covid-19 and passed away, and on Saturday, another medical student, aged 23, had also passed away. Official death tolls did not immediately indicate which of these deaths were included.
Reuters inquired about the NHC’s data accuracy, but the organization did not immediately respond.
Authorities acknowledge that the outbreak is “impossible” to track as the world’s most populous nation winds down years of strict coronavirus policy and Covid-19 spreads rapidly following the official end of mass lockdowns, testing, and quarantines.
