After modifying the criteria for registering virus deaths so that the majority are no longer counted, China reported on Wednesday (Dec. 21) that not a single person had died of COVID-19 the previous day.
After the Chinese government abruptly decided this month to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines, and mass testing, hospitals are suffering, pharmacy shelves are empty, and crematoriums are overburdened.
However, the government announced on Tuesday that the COVID-19 mortality numbers would only include individuals who had directly passed away from respiratory failure brought on by the virus.
In the past, those who passed away from disease while carrying the virus were recorded as COVID-19 deaths. This method of COVID-19 death reporting accounts for a sizable portion of deaths in other nations.
On Dec. 20, China reported no Covid deaths compared to five the day before. The National Health Commission reported that the total number was revised to 5,241 after one death in Beijing was removed as a result of the change in criteria. On Tuesday, the nation recorded 3,101 new instances of symptomatic Covid infections, of which 3,049 were domestic cases. With this, 386,276 confirmed cases with symptoms were reported overall.
The actual situation at crematoriums across China, which are struggling to handle the influx of dead remains, is in stark contrast to the official number of Covid fatalities in China. Crematorium staff members from the northeast to the southwest of the nation said they are finding it difficult to keep up with the rise in fatalities. In Chongqing, a worker at a crematorium claimed that there was nowhere left to store the dead.
Several local governments encouraged people with mild cases of the virus to go to work this week as cases of the illness rapidly increase across the nation. It was suggested in Guiyang, Guizhou province, that infected people with minimal or no symptoms work in a variety of industries. This includes employees in state-owned businesses, government agencies, hospitals, emergency departments, express delivery services, and supermarkets.
Now, the growing number of Covid cases in China is a topic of interest worldwide. The US argued that stopping the outbreak was in the best interests of the entire world and offered to share vaccines with the nation.
In his remarks to the media, Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, mentioned the People's Republic of China and said, "It's important not only for the PRC but also for the continued economic recovery of the international community that the PRC is in a position to get this outbreak under control."
