BEIJING: of China National Health Commission (NHC) stopped publishing daily Covid-19 data on Sunday, amid doubts about their reliability as infections flared after strict restrictions were abruptly eased.
“Relevant, appropriate Covid information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and study,” the committee said in a statement, without specifying the reason for the change or how often China . CDC Will update covid information.
The NHC’s halt to reporting daily totals of infections and deaths comes as concerns grow around a lack of key information since Beijing’s sweeping changes to its Covid-free policy have put hundreds of millions of its citizens under relentless blockade and wreaked havoc on the world’s second-largest economy. economy.
Despite the record increase in infections, the NHC reported no Covid deaths nationwide for four consecutive days before halting data release. China has narrowed its definition to reporting Covid deaths, counting only those caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure caused by Covid, raising eyebrows among world health experts.
UK-based health data company Airfinity last week estimated China is experiencing more than a million infections and 5,000 deaths a day.
After Covid cases broke daily records in late November, the NHC this month stopped reporting asymptomatic infections, making it more difficult to track cases.
Official figures from China have become an unreliable guide as fewer tests are carried out across the country, while China is frequently accused of downplaying the number of infections and deaths.
The US has also reported Covid cases less frequently, varying from daily to weekly updates, citing the need to ease the reporting burden for local areas.
The World Health Organization has received no data from China on new Covid hospitalizations since Beijing eased restrictions. The organization said the data breach could be due to the authorities’ difficulty in tallying cases in the world’s most populous country.
Several models and reports in recent days have forecast up to two million Covid deaths as the virus spreads to rural areas of the country, threatening to hit vulnerable elderly populations. the most vulnerable and the unvaccinated.
According to state media, the country’s healthcare system has been under a lot of strain, with staff being asked to work when sick and even retired medical workers in farming communities. Villages are sub-contracted to help with grassroots efforts.
There is more urgency when the Lunar New Year is approaching, when the number of people returning to their hometown is very large.
“Relevant, appropriate Covid information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and study,” the committee said in a statement, without specifying the reason for the change or how often China . CDC Will update covid information.
The NHC’s halt to reporting daily totals of infections and deaths comes as concerns grow around a lack of key information since Beijing’s sweeping changes to its Covid-free policy have put hundreds of millions of its citizens under relentless blockade and wreaked havoc on the world’s second-largest economy. economy.
Despite the record increase in infections, the NHC reported no Covid deaths nationwide for four consecutive days before halting data release. China has narrowed its definition to reporting Covid deaths, counting only those caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure caused by Covid, raising eyebrows among world health experts.
UK-based health data company Airfinity last week estimated China is experiencing more than a million infections and 5,000 deaths a day.
After Covid cases broke daily records in late November, the NHC this month stopped reporting asymptomatic infections, making it more difficult to track cases.
Official figures from China have become an unreliable guide as fewer tests are carried out across the country, while China is frequently accused of downplaying the number of infections and deaths.
The US has also reported Covid cases less frequently, varying from daily to weekly updates, citing the need to ease the reporting burden for local areas.
The World Health Organization has received no data from China on new Covid hospitalizations since Beijing eased restrictions. The organization said the data breach could be due to the authorities’ difficulty in tallying cases in the world’s most populous country.
Several models and reports in recent days have forecast up to two million Covid deaths as the virus spreads to rural areas of the country, threatening to hit vulnerable elderly populations. the most vulnerable and the unvaccinated.
According to state media, the country’s healthcare system has been under a lot of strain, with staff being asked to work when sick and even retired medical workers in farming communities. Villages are sub-contracted to help with grassroots efforts.
There is more urgency when the Lunar New Year is approaching, when the number of people returning to their hometown is very large.
