China reports about 60,000 COVID-related deaths in a month, says hospitalisations falling

BEIJING: China's health authorities on Saturday (Jan 14) reported almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths in just over a month, the first major death toll released by the government since the loosening of its virus restrictions in early December.

China recorded 59,938 COVID-related deaths between Dec 8, 2022, and Jan 12 this year, said Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of Medical Administration under the National Health Commission.

The figure refers only to deaths recorded at medical facilities, with the total toll likely to be higher.

It includes 5,503 deaths caused by respiratory failure directly due to the virus, and 54,435 deaths caused by underlying diseases combined with COVID-19, Jiao told a press conference.

Of the patients who died, 90.1 per cent were aged 65 and older.

EMERGENCY HOSPITALISATIONS

COVID-19 fever and emergency hospitalisations have peaked, said Jiao, adding that the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients is continuing to decline.

Nationwide, "the number of fever clinic visitors is generally in a declining trend after peaking, both in cities and rural areas", she said.

The ratio of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 was steadily falling as well.

The number of severe cases has also peaked, she added, although remained at a high level, and patients were mostly elderly.

China has been accused of underreporting its number of virus deaths since abandoning its zero-COVID policy in early December.

Health officials insisted on Wednesday it was "not necessary" to dwell on the exact number.

Beijing had previously revised its methodology for categorising COVID-19 fatalities, saying it would count only those who die specifically of respiratory failure caused by the virus.

But this had been criticised by the World Health Organization, which said the new definition was "too narrow".

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said the organisation was continuing to "ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalisation and deaths, as well as ... viral sequencing".

Millions of people over 60 years of age in China are unvaccinated.

Wen Daxiang, a Shanghai Health Commission official, said China would strengthen health monitoring and management of the high-risk population.

He added that China would bolster the supply of drugs and medical equipment, and beef up the training of grassroots medical workers to combat COVID-19 in rural regions.