The pressure had become too great. The Chinese authorities acknowledged on Saturday January 14 that the number of deaths linked to Covid-19 was much higher than that indicated until then. Between Dec. 8, 2022, the first post-Covid zero day, and Jan. 12, the death toll from the disease in Chinese hospitals stood at 59,938, said Jiao Yahui, director of the office of medical administration within the national health commission. Of this number, 5,503 deaths are due to respiratory failure and the other 54,435 result from a combination of Covid-19 and other conditions. The average age of those who died is 80.3, she said. Nine out of ten deceased patients were aged 65 and over.
Until then, China only counted deaths due to respiratory failure, not deaths “related to” Covid-19. This very restrictive definition had been criticized by the international community and by the World Health Organization (WHO). The latter welcomed the new Chinese communication. Following a telephone discussion on Saturday between Ma Xiaowei, director of the national health commission, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, the latter said ” enjoy “ the information issued by China. He nevertheless requested that this detailed information “continue to be shared” in the future, the WHO statement said.
The data provided seems to indicate that the peak of the epidemic has passed. The number of severe cases reportedly peaked on January 5, with 128,000 cases, up from 105,000 a week later. Officially, the occupancy rate of hospital beds in intensive care on January 12 was 75.3%. Cautious, the WHO wants China to publish more data by province. The Organization is also asking Beijing to further share the sequencing of the virus.
“Many non-hospitalized deaths”
More fundamentally, the WHO considers that “Overall, the epidemiology (…) is similar to the waves of infection that other countries have experienced, as is the increased pressure on health services”. Clearly, the zero Covid policy conducted by China from January 2020 to December 7, 2022 did not allow it to protect itself durably against the virus but only delayed the deadlines by three years. Especially since the actual number of deaths is much higher than the 59,938 indicated, since this last figure only takes into account deaths that occurred in hospital.
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