China changes criteria for recording Covid-19 deaths amid rising cases - Read more

Covid-19 in China: Hospitals, pharmacies, and crematoriums in the country are still experiencing strain due to the lifting of lockdowns and mass testing.

Beijing: China announced on Wednesday that there were no Covid-19 deaths in the country the previous day, after changing the criteria for recording such deaths. Under the new criteria, only individuals who died directly from respiratory failure caused by the virus will be counted as Covid-19 deaths. Previously, people who died of an illness while infected with the virus were also included in the Covid-19 death statistics. This change has led to a significant decrease in the number of reported Covid-19 deaths in China. However, hospitals, pharmacies, and crematoriums in the country are still experiencing strain due to the lifting of lockdowns and mass testing implemented by the government last month. Despite these challenges, the government insists that they are not avoiding the dangers of Covid-19 and are simply trying to assess the dangers of the virus in a scientific manner.

Underlying diseases and Covid

Wang Guiqiang of Peking University First Hospital explained that the main cause of death for individuals infected with the Omicron variant of the virus is often underlying diseases, particularly in older people.

He said, "Old people have other underlying conditions, only a very small number die directly of respiratory failure caused by infection with Covid." Crematorium workers throughout the country have reported struggling to keep up with a surge in deaths. Beijing admitted last week that it has become "impossible" to track the scale of the outbreak since mandatory mass testing ended.

Global threat of Covid-19

Despite the decrease in reported Covid-19 deaths, the US State Department has expressed concern about the surge in infections in China and the potential for the virus to mutate and become a threat to people globally.

State Department spokesman Ned Price stated, "We know that any time the virus is spreading, that it is in the wild, it has the potential to mutate and to pose a threat to people everywhere." He added that the impact of the virus is of concern to the rest of the world given China's large GDP and economy. China recorded 3,049 new domestic Covid cases on Wednesday and zero new deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been a total of 5,241 Covid-19 deaths in the country.

(With AFP inputs)