About 60,000 people infected with COVID have died in China since early December, health officials in Beijing said on Saturday.
Previously, officials had not recorded any deaths since strict zero COVID restrictions were lifted last month. rice field report Long lines at the crematorium Estimate In some parts of the country, the infection rate is between 80% and 90%.
Between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, there were 59,938 COVID-related deaths in Chinese hospitals, Jiao Yahui, head of the medical administration within the National Health Commission, said in a media briefing on Saturday. said in
The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the release of the latest data and called for continued information sharing by Beijing. Tedros met with Ma Xiaowei, director of China’s National Health Commission, on Saturday.
“The overall epidemiology reflects a rapid and intense wave of disease caused by known subvariants of Omicron, with higher clinical impact in the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, and has been experienced in other countries. It resembles a wave of new infections and puts pressure on health services,” WHO said. statement.
According to Chinese officials, the average age of those who died from COVID since the beginning of December was 80, with 90% aged 65 or older. The majority of deaths are due to a combination of COVID and other illnesses, officials added.
China has been criticized for its lack of transparency about the scale of the outbreak.Last month, Beijing changed how it defined COVID deaths, counting only those who died from respiratory failure caused directly by the virus – WHO definition Said It was too narrow.
