China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 coronavirus-related deaths since Dec. 8 after groups including the World Health Organization complained about a lack of information from officials.
Previously, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention had only reported 36 deaths between December 7 and January 8, according to the Washington Post.
It also marks a sharp increase from its dubious low official death total of 10,775 since the disease was discovered in Wuhan in 2019.
The United States, on the other hand, has reported more than 1 million deaths from COVID-19 despite having a much lower population.
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(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Despite reports of overcrowded hospitals and funeral homes, Jiao Yahui of the National Health Commission said on Saturday that the peak is over. “The data shows that the peak of the national emergency has passed,” he said.
China’s National Health Commission reported that 5,503 people have died from respiratory failure in hospitals and 54,435 hospital deaths occurred due to virus-related ailments since Dec. 8.
The data did not address people who may have died at home and its official death totals only include deaths from respiratory failure and pneumonia, unlike countries like the US, which include other coronavirus-related deaths.
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Beijing had also instituted a highly restrictive “COVID zero” policy that helped keep the number of cases low for a time, but did not allow people to leave their homes and sparked protests.
Relatives of the deceased await cremation procedures at a funeral home in Shanghai, China, on January 4, 2023. On Saturday, January 14, China reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people with COVID-19 since early December following the complaints The government was not publishing data on the state of the pandemic. (Chinatopix Via AP)
(Chinatopix Via AP)
Those rules were suddenly relaxed in early December after some of the biggest public dissent against the ruling Communist Party in more than 30 years.
The sudden change and lack of preparation, including inadequate vaccination levels, led to a spike in the infection rate after restrictions were lifted.
In the recent update, the Health Commission said the median age of those who had died was 80, with 90% being over the age of 65 and 90% having underlying health conditions.
“The number of elderly patients dying from disease is relatively large, which suggests that we should pay more attention to elderly patients and do everything possible to save their lives,” Jiao said.
In early December, Beijing stopped reporting deaths following a spike in cases in October and local reports that millions of people could be infected across the country.
The country has continually faced criticism for allegedly downplaying deaths and the number of cases, starting with accusations that it downplayed the emergence of the virus in 2019 before it erupted into a global pandemic.
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Beijing recently retaliated against Japan and South Korea by refusing visas from the countries after they, along with the US, implemented coronavirus tests for people traveling from China.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
