The Chinese National Health Commission, which serves as a ministry, announced on Sunday that it would no longer publish daily figures for Covid cases and deaths, as it had done since the beginning of 2020. It gave no explanation.
But these statistics no longer reflected the unprecedented wave of contamination that has hit China since the abandonment on December 7 of the strict health measures of the “zero Covid” policy.
Previously, quasi-compulsory PCR tests made it possible to reliably follow the epidemic trend.
But infected people now carry out self-tests at home and rarely report the results to the authorities, which prevents having reliable figures.
“
As of today, we will no longer publish daily information on the epidemic
,” the national health commission said.
“
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish information related to the epidemic, for reference and research purposes
,” she adds, without specifying the type or frequency of data that will be published by the CDC.
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The Chinese, who saw a total discrepancy between the contamination of a large part of their relatives and the official statistics, greeted the announcement with derision.
"
Eventually they wake up and realize they can't fool people anymore
" with understated numbers, writes a user of social network Weibo.
“
It was the best and biggest fake statistics office in the country
,” said another.
The crematoria index
"
Are there any crematorium employees here?"
Are you overloaded?
Can you talk about it?
», Calls a third.
Many crematoriums have recently reported an unusually high influx of bodies.
A situation largely ignored by the Chinese media.
They evoke, however, to a certain extent, hospitals under tension in the face of the arrival of patients and the shortage of anti-fever drugs.
Another source of controversy which discredited the official statistics: under a new methodology, only people who died directly from respiratory failure linked to Covid are now counted as deceased from Covid.
China has only announced six Covid deaths since restrictions were lifted.
However, many seniors do not have a complete vaccination schedule and find themselves on the front line facing the virus.
Half a million people are infected daily in Qingdao (East), a city of 10 million inhabitants, a municipal official quoted by the official press estimated this week.
