Chinese data on the number of deaths from Covid-19 have always been transparent, said the evening of Thursday, December 29, the health authorities of China, despite a discrepancy with the reality of the statistics so far given by Beijing.
“
China has always published its data on
Covid-19 deaths
and serious cases in a desire for openness and transparency
,” said Jiao Yahui, senior official of the National Health Commission (NHC), who said Thursday evening. serves as the Ministry of Health.
His remarks are reported by the state agency New China.
One death recorded on Friday
The country is going through a wave of contamination of an unprecedented scale since the abrupt abandonment, at the beginning of the month, of its so-called “
zero Covid
” policy.
Latest easing to date: the end of mandatory quarantines on January 8 on arrival in Chinese territory.
A disease control body on Friday identified 5,500 new positive cases in China and only one death.
But since the end of mass testing and the new, narrower definition of a death attributed to Covid, these statistics appear out of step with reality.
Read alsoCovid-19: from Beijing to Shanghai, the virus is blazing, hospitals are saturated and the authorities are overwhelmed
According to experts at the Airfinity Center, the death toll in China could currently stand at 9,000 per day and reach 1.7 million by the end of April 2023.
“Respect scientific criteria”
Jiao Yahui recalled that only patients who died of respiratory deficiency caused by the virus after being declared positive in a PCR test were considered to be victims of Covid.
In other countries, patients who died within 28 days of a positive test are counted as Covid deaths.
"
China has always been committed, from beginning to end, to abiding by scientific criteria for judging deaths from Covid-19, which are in line with international criteria
," said Jiao Yahui.
Epidemic control
In the continuity of the lowering of restrictions, China will reclassify the Covid on January 8 as a category B infectious disease, against A previously, which will allow it to further relax the health rules.
Liang Wannian, head of anti-Covid policy at the NHC, said at a press conference that the decision was appropriate, scientifically and legally based, China News reported.
This change does not mean that China opens the door wide to the virus, but that it devotes more resources to the most important positions such as epidemic control and the treatment of infected people, explained Liang Wannian.