China has reported only two Covid-19 deaths since easing restrictions earlier in December
A health worker pushes a patient in a wheelchair at a hospital in Beijing, China, on December 14 2022. Picture: BLOOMBERG
Over the weekend, China reported its first fatalities since Covid-19-Zero was dismantled earlier in December. In total, the country has declared just 11 Covid-19 deaths among its 1.4-billion people since November 19, which was more than a week after the government’s first tentative steps towards loosening virus policy.
Reports on the ground suggest Beijing is seeing a wave of fatalities, with crematorium workers and relatives suggesting at least tens of people have died infected with Covid-19. The news of the two most recent deaths were among the top trending topics on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, with more than 200-million views on Monday, and social media users questioned whether there were more fatalities that hadn’t been reported.
Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand saw deaths pass three per 1-million a day at the peak of outbreaks after they left elimination behind. Even Singapore, which had a well-planned and gradual shift away from quashing all cases, saw a bit more than a month between its first Omicron case and fatality and ultimately experienced an increase in deaths to about two per 1-million daily.
It’s in China’s interests to obscure or downplay the death toll, given the way it’s approached Covid-19 from the time it emerged.
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