The new tally was announced by China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a time when there are doubts about the transparency of data provided by Beijing
At a time when experts in China estimate that the wave of the epidemic has already reached its peak, the Chinese authorities announced that between January 13 and 19, almost 13,000 deaths from covid-19 were recorded in the country’s hospitals, which are added to the nearly 60,000 recorded about a month earlier.
The new tally was announced by China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as there are doubts about the transparency of data provided by Beijing, while the death toll remains far lower than most countries have recorded.
Hospitals and funeral homes have been at their limits since early December, when authorities in China suddenly lifted measures they had imposed to stem the spread of covid-19.
The death toll announced by Chinese authorities does not include coronavirus patients who die at home, and some doctors have complained that they are being discouraged from listing the disease as a cause of death on certificates.
On Jan. 14, China announced nearly 60,000 covid deaths in the country’s hospitals between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, a huge increase from just over 5,000 deaths reported in the previous three years.
Some public health experts expect more than a million people to die from the disease in China this year, while health data company Airfinity estimated that this week the country could see 36,000 deaths a day.
As millions of workers return to their hometowns for the Chinese New Year celebrations, experts are particularly concerned about residents of rural areas, where there is insufficient health infrastructure.
Mass movements of people during the current holiday season may spread the pandemic, increasing infections in some areas, but a second wave of covid is unlikely in the short term, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center, said on the social networking platform Weibo on Saturday. of Disease Control and Prevention.
The likelihood of a major resurgence of Covid-19 in China in the next two or three months is small, as 80% of the population has already been infected, he estimated.
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