Doubts grow in China over data on COVID-19 patients; Beijing publishes first deaths in weeks

This is reported by Reuters.

China on Monday reported its first deaths from COVID-19 in weeks amid growing doubts about whether official counts capture the full toll of the disease spreading through cities after the government eased strict anti-virus controls.

For the first time since December 3, 2 Covid-related deaths were reported in China. Before that, Beijing announced the lifting of the quarantine. The outlet says that the restrictions largely contained the virus for 3 years, but sparked protests in November.

Currently, the number of deaths in the country reaches up to 5,237, and the number of new patients is 1,995, compared to 2,097 the day before.

Reuters writes that their journalists witnessed hearses lined up outside a special COVID-19 crematorium in Beijing, while workers in protective suits carried the dead inside the facility. It is not known for certain whether those deaths were caused by the coronavirus itself.

In Chinese social networks, users began to comment on the new data: "What is the point of incomplete statistics?", "Isn't this cheating the public?".

"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," Reuters writes.

Experts said China could pay a price for taking such strict measures to protect the population that currently has no natural immunity to COVID-19 and low vaccination rates among the elderly. Some fear that the death toll could exceed 1.5 million in the coming months.

In addition, Chinese news outlet Caixin reported on Friday that two state media journalists had died after contracting COVID, followed by the death of a 23-year-old medical student on Saturday. It was not immediately clear which of those deaths were included in the official death toll.

"The (official) number is clearly an undercount of COVID deaths," said Yanzhong Huang, a global health specialist at the US Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

On Saturday, November 26, protests against severe restrictions due to COVID-19 began in China's most populous city, Shanghai. The protests started because of a fire that happened on Thursday, November 24, in the city of Urumqi. Ten people died as a result of the fire.  Local residents believe that the tragedy happened because part of the high-rise building was blocked due to coronavirus restrictions.

During mass protests against quarantine measures, the participants of the rallies began to demand the resignation of the leader of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping.

On Dec. 1, it was reported that China will announce an easing of the COVID-19 restrictions that have sparked mass protests in the country for the first time since Xi Jinping came to power.

China's exports and imports fell at the fastest pace in 2.5 years in November 2022. This was influenced by the epidemic of COVID-19, low demand and falling real estate prices in the PRC.