The data provided seems to indicate that the peak of the epidemic has passed. But the WHO wants Beijing to publish more data by province and asked that this detailed information “continue to be shared” in the future.
by Frédéric Lemaître (Beijing, correspondent)
The pressure had become too strong. Chinese authorities recognized, on Saturday, January 14, that the number of deaths linked to the COVID-19 was much higher than that indicated until then. Between December 8, 2022, the first day of the post-Zero Cavid, and January 12, the number of deaths related to the disease in Chinese hospitals amounted to 59,938, said Jiao Yahaha, director of the office of medical administration within the National Health Commission. On this number, 5,503 deaths are due to respiratory failure and the 54,435 others result from a combination of the COVID-19 and other conditions. The average age of deceased is 80.3 years old, she said. Nine out of ten patients were 65 and over.
Until then, China only counted deaths due to respiratory failure, and not the deaths “linked to” COVID-19. This very restrictive definition had been criticized by the international community and by the World Health Organization (WHO). The latter praised the new Chinese communication. Following a telephone discussion on Saturday, between my Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, and Doctor Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Managing Director of the WHO, said “appreciated” the information issued by the China. He nevertheless asked that this detailed information “continue to be shared” in the future, said the WHO press release.
The data provided seems to indicate that the peak of the epidemic has passed. The number of severe cases would have reached its highest on January 5, with 128,000 cases, against 105,000 a week later. Officially, the occupancy rate of hospitals in intensive care on January 12 was 75.3 %. Prudent, WHO wants China to publish more data by province. The organization also asks Beijing to share the sequencing of the virus more. 2> “Many non -hospitalized deaths”
More fundamentally, WHO judges that “overall, epidemiology (…) is similar to the waves of infection experienced by other countries, as is the increase in pressure on the services of health “. Clearly, the zero covid policy led by China from January 2020 to December 7, 2022 did not allow it to protect itself permanently against the virus but only delayed the deadlines. Especially since the number of real deaths is much higher than the 59,938 indicated, since the latter figure only takes into account the deaths that occurred at the hospital.
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