Monday’s two deaths were the first to be reported by the National Health Commission since Dec. 3, days before Beijing announced that it was lifting some COVID-19 curbs
China reported its first COVID-related deaths in weeks on Monday amid rising doubts over whether the official count was capturing the full toll of a disease that is ripping through cities after the government relaxed strict anti-virus controls.
“What is the point of incomplete statistics?” asked one user. “Isn’t this cheating the public?,” wrote another.The low number of deaths since curbs were lifted on Dec. 7 is inconsistent with the experience of other countries after similar moves. Officially China has suffered just 5,237 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, including the latest two fatalities, a tiny fraction of its 1.4 billion population.
That “may reflect the lack of state ability to effectively track and monitor the disease situation on the ground after the collapse of the mass PCR testing regime, but it may also be driven by efforts to avoid mass panic over the surge of COVID deaths,” he said.But infection rates have also become an unreliable guide as far less mandatory PCR testing is being conducted following the recent easing. The NHC stopped reporting asymptomatic cases last week citing the testing drop.
Japanese chip maker Renesas Electronics Corp said on Monday it had suspended work at its Beijing plant due to COVID-19 infections. “I’d say 60-70 per cent of my colleagues … are infected right now,” Liu, a 37-year-old university canteen worker in Beijing, told Reuters, requesting to be identified by his surname.
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