China announced at least 60,000 hospital deaths on Saturday in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic, since the lifting of health restrictions in the country a month ago. This report does not take into account deaths recorded outside of medical facilities.
“A total of 59,938 (deaths) were recorded between December 8, 2022 and January 12, 2023,” health authority official Jiao Yahui told reporters.
The sudden announcement of tens of thousands of deaths marks a turning point in the communication of the Chinese health authorities. Until then, Beijing was accused of downplaying its epidemic data regarding Covid-19. Three days ago, China said that only 37 deaths linked to Covid-19 had been registered in a month.
End of “Covid Zero”
The refusal to provide reliable data greatly angered the World Health Organization (WHO). “We still don’t have enough information to do a full risk assessment” in China, Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergencies, said Wednesday.
The strong recovery from the epidemic in China is explained by the sudden lifting in early December of almost all measures to curb the epidemic, while the country has lived almost under glass since the beginning of the epidemic, imposing drastic sanitary measures on their habitants. .
In response, many Western countries, such as France, have imposed a negative Covid-19 screening test on travelers from China.
Source: BFM TV
