The World Health Organization urges China to keep publishing COVID-19 data after Beijing on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 coronavirus-related deaths since Dec. 8.
Beijing’s announcement was the first official death toll since the ruling Communist Party abruptly lifted antivirus restrictions in December despite a surge in infections that flooded hospitals. That left the WHO and other governments asking for information, while the United States, South Korea and other countries imposed controls on Chinese visitors.
A woman and children wearing face masks walk past masked travelers waiting in a departure lounge to catch their trains at Beijing West Railway Station, Sunday, January 15, 2023.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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.
In the revised death toll, Beijing said 5,503 people died from respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 and there were 54,435 deaths from cancer, heart disease and other ailments combined with COVID-19 between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12. .
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The latest figures marked a significant increase from the previous dubiously low death total of 10,775 since the disease was first discovered in Wuhan in 2019.
The WHO said Beijing’s announcement on Saturday “allows for a better understanding of the epidemiological situation.”
Patients lie on beds and gurneys in a corridor in a hospital emergency department, amid the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai, China, on January 4, 2023.
He said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke to Health Minister Ma Xiaowei on the phone.
“WHO requested that this type of detailed information continue to be shared with us and the public,” the agency said.
The National Health Commission said only deaths in hospitals were counted, meaning no one dying at home would be included. It gave no indication of when or if it might release updated numbers.
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A health official said the “national emergency peak has passed” based on an 83% decline in the daily number of people going to fever clinics since the peak on December 23.
China has counted only deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official balance sheet, excluding many deaths that could be attributed to the virus in other countries.
Meanwhile, high-speed train service resumed on Sunday between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong under restrictions that allow 5,000 passengers on each side to make the journey daily and require a negative virus test within 48 hours. .
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The two sides are reopening travel links that were suspended under Beijing’s “zero-COVID” strategy, which was aimed at keeping the virus out of China. Hong Kong imposed different but equally severe restrictions that have blocked most international travel.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
