China\u0027s low COVID death count is being met with disbelief as infections have surged following the easing of restrictions.
Health authorities reported only five COVID-related deaths on Tuesday and two the day before, all of which were in Beijing. Both numbers were met with a wave of disbelief on microblog Weibo. “How come people only die in Beijing? What about the rest of the country?” one user wrote.Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
After authorities last week stopped reporting asymptomatic cases, word of mouth has become the main way many track the outbreak. Social media timelines are a constant stream of positive test results, reversing nearly three years of most people in China having no personal experience with the virus. Hospitals have filled steadily, even as authorities announced measures to increase emergency-care capacity.
It also raised the threshold for considering an individual to be infected by COVID. Patients must be found to have severe hypoxemia or below 93 per cent arterial oxygen saturation levels, both of which would suggest the individual was severely starved of oxygen.The update reflected a “great change” in the nature of deaths from recent variants, said Wang Guiqiang, a government adviser and director of the infectious diseases department at Peking University First Hospital.
Jin noted that some individuals who died of underlying conditions worsened by COVID were counted during an outbreak in Shanghai earlier this year, in what could have been a change “to emphasize that many people would die from COVID” and show why lockdowns were necessary.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Beijing accused of undercounting COVID death toll as virus spreads across ChinaChina\u0027s low COVID death count is being met with disbelief as infections have surged following the easing of restrictions.
Read more »
Two COVID-19 deaths reported in Beijing as virus surgesChina\u0027s health authorities on Monday announced two COVID\u002D19 deaths \u002D\u002D the country\u0027s first reported fatalities in weeks
Read more »
Two COVID-19 deaths reported in Beijing as virus surgesChina\u0027s health authorities on Monday announced two COVID\u002D19 deaths \u002D\u002D the country\u0027s first reported fatalities in weeks
Read more »
COVID-19 deaths reported in Beijing as virus surgesChinese health authorities on Monday announced two additional COVID-19 deaths, both in the capital Beijing, that were the first reported in weeks and come during an expected surge of illnesses after the nation eased its strict 'zero-COVID' approach. China had not reported a death from COVID-19 since Dec. 4, even though unofficial reports of a new wave of cases are widespread.
Read more »
Two COVID-19 deaths reported in Beijing as virus surgesChina\u0027s health authorities on Monday announced two COVID\u002D19 deaths \u002D\u002D the country\u0027s first reported fatalities in weeks
Read more »
Video: China reports first COVID-19 deaths in weeksChina reported its first COVID-related deaths in weeks on Dec. 19 amid rising doubts over whether the official count was capturing the full toll of a disease that is ripping through cities after the government relaxed strict anti-virus controls.
Read more »