China’s health officials have accepted the country’s total number of Covid-related deaths is “huge”, but argue the mortality rate may still be within the normal range for the world’s most populated nation.
“We have a huge base, so what people feel is that the severe cases, the critical cases or the fatalities are increasing,” Jiao Yahui, a National Health Commission official, told China Central Television, the state broadcaster.
“As far as this wave is concerned, what people have felt is the absolute number, not the low percentage (of deaths to total infections). Relative to the rest of the world, the infection peaks we are faced with across the country are not unusual,” she said.
Tong Zhaohui, a vice-president of Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing, agreed the number was huge, but said the percentage of deaths may still be low. “Think how many people around you have been infected but how many have developed critical cases or pneumonia? I think everyone has the idea,” Tong said.
China is fighting an uphill battle against mass coronavirus infections since Beijing abandoned its zero-Covid policy on December 7, scrapping most restrictions to learn to live with the virus and reconnect with the world. It will reopen its borders on January 8.
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Official data is considered unreliable, as Beijing has reported only 4,523 infections and one death from Sunday for the entire country. It is estimated that thousands of people are dying from the virus each day as a result of the enormous number of infections.
The deaths have raised questions as to whether China was ready for the sudden U-turn in its pandemic policy.
Jiao said that China had adopted some measures to flatten the curve and ease the burden on the healthcare system. “Fever clinics first experienced the surge, and some fever clinics saw the number of patients soaring ten times. One doctor saw as many as 150 patients one night,” Jiao said.
“As we anticipated the surging demands for fever clinics, we demanded all hospitals to open fever clinics,” she said, adding the country had more than 57,000 of the clinics by December 25. Additionally, temporary ones were set up in stadiums and isolation facilities.
There is now a rise in severe and critical cases. “In fact, at the start of December, we ordered there to be more hospital beds and critical care beds,” Jiao said.
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She acknowledged there were not enough drugs, partly because demand has surged so fast that factories didn’t have time to boost production, a problem compounded by infections inside factories.
Jiao called the battle “very hard” but said the turning point would come after the number of severe and critical cases peaked.
Thailand, which has banked on Chinese travellers to boost its tourism, became the latest ation to imposing additional border checks people from China. It will require proof of vaccination but will not require negative test results.
In Taiwan, where all travellers from China are being screened upon arrival, nearly 28 per cent of those who entered through the Taoyuan International Airport yesterday tested positive for the virus.
