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China reported on Saturday the death of about 60,000 people with COVID-19 since early December after complaints that the government did not publish data on the pandemic situation in the country and said the “emergency peak” of the latest outbreak appears to have passed.
The figure included 5,503 deaths from respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus and another 54,435 caused by other ailments combined with COVID-19. The National Health Commission said these deaths occurred in hospitals, leaving open the possibility of more deaths in private homes.
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The report would more than double the official death toll from COVID-19 in Chinaraising it to 10,775 compared to 5,272 on January 8.
The chinese government stopped offering data on infections and deaths from the coronavirus after abruptly lifting its strict pandemic controls in early December despite a spike in infections that began in October that filled hospitals with patients with fever and trouble breathing.
The World Health Organization and other governments requested more information from Beijing after reports from municipal and provincial authorities suggested that hundreds of millions of people could have contracted the virus.
The peak of the latest wave of infections appears to have passed in view of the decline in the number of patients attending fever clinics, said Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission.
The number of daily visits to these types of centers reached its maximum of 2.9 million people on December 23, and on Thursday it had dropped 83% with just 477,000, Jiao added.
“These data show that the peak of the national emergency has passedJiao said at a press conference.
The United States, South Korea and other countries are now again requiring that travelers from China present a negative test for the coronavirus, among other controls. Beijing responded to the move on Wednesday by suspending the issuance of new visas to travelers from South Korea and Japan.
At the height of the pandemic, China it kept the infection and death rate below that of the United States and other nations thanks to its strict “zero COVID” protocol, which sought to isolate each positive. This closed the access to many cities, confined millions of people to their homes and provoked protests.
The average age of those who died since December 8 was 80.3 years and 90.1% were 65 years or older, according to the Health Commission. In addition, more than 90% of the dead suffered from cancer, heart or lung disease or kidney problems, it added.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
