News Asia
China Reports ‘Zero Covid Death’ For 2nd Successive Day
(CTN NEW) – On Friday, China reported zero new Covid-19 deaths, the same number as the previous day. A day earlier, the country reported 3,761 new symptomatic Covid-19 infections.
According to the Reuters news agency, China reported 4,103 new local cases, excluding imported infections, up from 3,696 a day earlier.
The number of severe cases increased by 99 in China on Friday, compared to 42 the day before. There are no absolute figures for severe cases provided by the country.
China is averaging 37 million new COVID cases everyday. As many as 250 million people infected in 20 days. This feels like the bad sequel nobody asked for pic.twitter.com/cMXEIisY82
— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) December 23, 2022
With the recent easing of zero-Covid policies, official figures have become unreliable.
According to Reuters, mainland China had confirmed 397,195 cases with symptoms as of December 23.
CNN quoted ANI reporting that the Chinese government defended its official tally by revealing that it updated its method of counting deaths caused by the virus.
The National Health Commission’s latest guidelines define Covid deaths as deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after contracting the virus, according to Wang Guiqiang, an infectious disease specialist.
A medical worker administers a dose of a vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to an elderly resident during a government-organized visit to a vaccination center in Zhongmin village on the outskirts of Shanghai, December 21, 2022. REUTERS/Brenda Goh
Covid-infected individuals who died as a result of another disease or underlying condition, such as a heart attack, will not be counted as virus deaths, CNN reported, citing ANI.
Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s emergency chief, commented on China’s definition of Covid-19 deaths.
1. Covid-19 will not become endemic any time soon, warns the WHO.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan says the virus has not settled into a “seasonal or transmission pattern” and could still trigger major outbreaks.
He notes that the situation is very volatile. pic.twitter.com/THKgV8KBRy
— BFM News (@NewsBFM) April 15, 2022
According to Ben Cowling, professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong, counting deaths from Covid versus deaths with Covid has been a subject of debate since the beginning of the pandemic.
PCR testing in China has been drastically reduced since the government rolled back mass testing, which would overshadow the debate over how to count Covid deaths.
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