China reported close to 13,000 deaths in hospitals in the week between January 13 and 19 on Sunday. China reported 60,000 Covid-related deaths in hospitals recently.
China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention released the data on Sunday and it comes amid doubts over Beijing's data transparency. According to reports, hospitals and funeral homes have been overwhelmed in China since the country relaxed its zero-Covid policy.
The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 12,658 Covid-related deaths in the seven days between January 13 and 19. Quoting Wu Zunyou, the CDC’s chief epidemiologist, SCMP reported, “The massive social mobility during Chinese New Year could accelerate the spread of the pandemic to a certain extent, and the number of infected people will increase in some areas.” Wu was quoted as saying there was little chance for a second Covid wave in the country as over 80 per cent of the population is infected already.
“Because the latest wave had infected about 80 per cent of the people in the country there was little possibility of a large-scale epidemic rebound or a second wave of cases in the next two to three months,” Wu was quoted saying by the publication.
The death count reported by Chinese authorities excludes those who died at home, and some doctors have said they are discouraged from putting Covid on death certificates, Reuters reported.
Some health experts expect that more than one million people will die from the disease in China this year, with British-based health data firm Airfinity forecasting COVID fatalities could hit 36,000 a day this week, the publication reported.
According to reports, health experts raised concerns about people living in the countryside since migrant workers are travelling home to celebrate Lunar new year.
A total of 26.23 million trips were made on the Lunar New Year eve via railway, highway, ships and aeroplanes, half the pre-pandemic levels, but up 50.8 per cent from last year, Reuters reported.
