China's National Health Commission to stop publishing daily Covid-19 figures
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People waiting outside a fever clinic at a hospital in Shanghai, China, on Dec 24, 2022.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING - China’s National Health Commission, which for the past three years or so has published daily Covid-19 case figures for the country, said it will no longer release such data from Sunday.
“Relevant Covid information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research,” the NHC said in a statement.
It did not specify the reasons for the change or how frequently China CDC will update Covid-19 information.
The country reported no new Covid-19 deaths in the mainland for Dec 24, same as zero a day earlier, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday.
China rapidly dismantled key pillars of its zero-Covid strategy
It has done away with snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and travel curbs
The NHC’s halt to reporting daily infection and death totals comes as concerns grow around the lack of vital information about China’s fight against Covid-19.
Despite the record surge of infections, the NHC had reported no Covid-19 deaths nationwide for four consecutive days before halting the data release.
China narrowed its definition for reporting Covid-19 deaths, counting only those from Covid-caused pneumonia or respiratory failure, raising eyebrows among world health experts.
British-based health data firm Airfinity last week estimated China is experiencing more than a million infections and 5,000 deaths a day.
After Covid-19 cases were breaking daily records in late November, the NHC this month stopped reporting asymptomatic infections, making it harder to track cases.
Official figures from China have become an unreliable guide as less testing is being done across the country.
The country has been routinely accused of downplaying infections and deaths.
The United States has also reported Covid-19 cases less frequently,
The World Health Organisation has received no data from China on new Covid-19 hospitalisations since Beijing eased its restrictions. The organisation says the data gap might be due to the authorities struggling to tally cases in the world’s most populous country.
“China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic,” said a research note from Capital Economics. “The authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major Covid wave will be soon.”
After years of enforcing strict rules, President Xi Jinping’s abandonment of his signature zero-Covid policy now puts a spotlight on the country’s exit plan as Hong Kong plans to re-open China’s border.
‘You didn’t count me’
China’s abrupt easing of restrictions, including the dismantling of widespread mass testing, has confused its citizens and stoked frustrations as cases soar while official numbers remain incomplete.
“You didn’t count me when I was positive for Covid and you didn’t know when I turned negative. The statistics and reality are too far apart,” wrote a user of China’s Twitter-like platform after the NHC halted its daily case reporting, adding there has been no need to publish them for quite a while.
The cities of Qingdao and Dongguan have each estimated tens of thousands of daily Covid-19 infections recently, much higher than the national daily toll without asymptomatic cases.
Several models and reports in recent days have forecast as many as two million Covid-19 deaths as the virus spreads to rural sections of the country, threatening to hit the most vulnerable elderly population and the unvaccinated.
The country’s healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and even retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help grassroot efforts, according to state media.
Bolstering the urgency is the approach of the Lunar New Year in January, when huge numbers of people return home.
Daily requests to the emergency centre in the eastern city of Hangzhou have recently more than tripled on average from last year’s level, state television reported on Sunday, citing a Hangzhou health official.
Suzhou, also in the east, said late on Saturday its emergency line received a record 7,233 calls on Thursday. REUTERS
