China confirms death of 60,000 people from causes associated with covid

Afp, Xinhua, Ap and Reuters

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday January 15, 2023, p. 9

Peking. The Chinese government confirmed yesterday the death in its hospitals of about 60,000 people from covid-19, between last December 8 and until January 12, in the first significant number of deaths published by the government since it relaxed its Politics of zero tolerance against the pandemic. At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) asked the health authorities of the Asian giant for more detailed information on its epidemiological situation.

Jiao Yahui, head of the medical administration office of the National Health Commission, explained that the figure includes 5,503 deaths from respiratory failure caused by this coronavirus and another 54,435 caused by other underlying conditions associated with the virus. She specified in a press conference that these deaths occurred in hospitals, which left open the possibility that there were more deaths in private homes.

In all the country, the number of patients attending clinics for fever follows a general downward trend after having reached its maximum (cap), both in cities and in rural areasJiao specified. He argued that the number of patients undergoing emergency treatment is also declining and that the proportion of patients who have tested positive for covid-19 is also steadily falling.

The number of severe cases has also peaked, he added, although it remains at a high level and the patients are mostly elderly.

Wen Daxiang, an official with the Shanghai Health Commission, reported that China would strengthen health surveillance and management of the high-risk population. He added that the supply of drugs and medical equipment will be strengthened, as well as the training of grassroots medical workers to combat the spread of the virus in rural regions.

Following the release of the report, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a more detailed chronological breakdown of the data by province during a telephone conversation with Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission of China, the health entity of the United Nations Organization reported in a statement.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also reiterated the importance of greater cooperation and transparency from China.since the information allows a better understanding of the epidemiological situation and the impact of this wave of the disease in the Asian country, says the document.

After three years of enforcing some of the most draconian restrictions in the world, China abruptly lifted most of its coronavirus health provisions in early December, following protests against the severity of these measures in several cities across the country.

Since then, the number of patients has increased considerably. Hospitals have been overwhelmed by elderly patients and crematoriums have received large numbers of corpses. Despite this, the authorities had only reported a small number of deaths.

Last December, Beijing revised its methodology for counting deaths from covid and now only people who died directly from coronavirus-related respiratory failure are included in the statistics.

The United States, South Korea, Japan and some members of the European Union, among other countries, have imposed restrictions on travelers from China, who must present a negative test for the coronavirus, in addition to other controls. Beijing responded to the move on Wednesday by suspending the issuance of new visas to travelers from South Korea and Japan.