China reports nearly 60,000 COVID deaths since last month
Beijing, Jan 14: China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 coronavirus deaths in hospitals across the country over the last 30 days, amid criticism from the WHO that Beijing was heavily under-reporting the magnitude of the pandemic.
The death toll included 59,938 COVID-19 related deaths at hospitals from December 8 to January 12, the National Health Commission said on Saturday, official media here reported.
Jiao Yahui, director of the National Health Commission's medical affairs department, said medical institutes recorded 5,503 deaths as a result of respiratory failure triggered by COVID-19 infections and 54,435 fatalities with underlying conditions, such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases, combined with COVID-19.
The average age of those who died was 80.3, and 90 per cent of the fatalities were aged 65 or over, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
With this, China's official death toll climbed to 65,210 since the coronavirus first broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
China has stopped providing daily Covid statistics since abandoning its strict zero-Covid strategy.
China also reopened its borders to international travellers on January 8 after nearly three years.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday that China is "heavily underreporting" the number of COVID-19 deaths from the current wave of infections sweeping the country.
"WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported from China. This is in relation to the definitions that are used but also to the need for doctors and those reporting in the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged," Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme said in Geneva.
The new death toll figures come as videos and reports in the social media showed that hospitals, morgues and crematoriums were being overwhelmed with bodies.
Families where deaths have taken place told the media that they were simply asked to leave the bodies at the morgues without mentioning dates for cremation and they would be handed over the ashes after cremation.
Since the virus broke, China was cagey about revealing the number of cases, especially the deaths in view of the political ramifications.
The stringent zero-Covid policy, which was lifted last month after rare anti-government protests against President Xi Jinping, who was re-elected for an unprecedented third term in October last year.
As soon as the restrictions were lifted, a massive Covid wave fuelled by Omicron variants overwhelmed Beijing and several other cities with a steady rise in fatalities.
Health experts here said the country perhaps saw the fastest transmission of the virus with millions getting infected every day.
According to the latest study by Peking University, some 900 million people in China have been infected with the virus as of January 11, 2023.
The report estimates that 64 per cent of the country's population is infected with the virus, the BBC reported on Friday.
The study ranks Gansu province, where 91 per cent of the people are reported to be infected, at the top, followed by Yunnan (84 per cent) and Qinghai (80 per cent).
Beijing, which is hit by Omicron sub-variant BF.7, has announced seven deaths, but later stopped announcing any data of cases and deaths.
China's National Health Commission announced that only Covid-19 patients who die from respiratory failure will be counted towards the official death toll.
Deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure resulting from Covid-19 will be classified as Covid deaths, while deaths caused by other underlying diseases, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, will not be counted as Covid-induced deaths," Wang Guiqiang, an adviser to the NHC and director of the infectious diseases department at Peking University First Hospital said.
He justified lifting of restrictions, saying that Omicron, the variant fuelling the current surge in cases, was becoming less lethal and China was increasing the vaccination rate, which meant the pattern of infections and deaths was changing.
Since last month, the WHO is consistently critical of China not sharing COVID data especially that of deaths and admissions to ICUs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in response to WHO criticism said on Thursday that Beijing has been sharing Covid data in "a timely, open and transparent manner in accordance with the law," having held technical exchanges with the WHO over the past month.
Global concerns over China's current wave of Covid cases rose as Beijing on January 8 opened its borders after three years, welcoming international travellers and returning residents without the need to quarantine even as infections continue to surge after it scrapped its stringent zero-Covid policy.
Several countries including India have called for negative PCR tests for travellers arriving from China, which Beijing criticised as politically discriminatory and warned of counter measures.
A top Chinese epidemiologist has also warned that cases will surge in rural China during the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival starting from January 22.
Already millions of Chinese are travelling to their home villages and tourist destinations. The celebrations will last about 40 days.
Some two billion trips are expected to be made in total and tens of millions of people have already travelled.
The peak of China's Covid wave is expected to last two to three months, said Zeng Guang, ex-head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control.
Reports say hospitals in big cities --- where healthcare facilities are better and more easily accessible --- have become crowded with patients, as the virus raged through the country.
Zeng said it was "time to focus on the rural areas", in remarks reported in the Caixin news outlet.
Many elderly, sick and disabled in the countryside were already being left behind in terms of Covid treatment, he added.
China's central Henan province is the only province to have given details of the infection rates.
Earlier this month, a health official in that province said nearly 90 per cent of the population had Covid, with similar rates being reported in urban and rural areas.
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Organisation should be strengthened: Tharoor supports Digvijaya's views
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday came out in support of the views of his party colleague Digvijaya Singh, saying the organisation should be strengthened.
At the 140th Foundation Day event at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters, Tharoor was seated next to Digvijaya Singh and exchanged notes.
Ahead of the CWC meet on Saturday, Singh created a flutter by lauding the organisational power of RSS-BJP as he shared Narendra Modi's old picture and said how a grassroots worker went on to become the chief minister and prime minister by sitting at the feet of their leaders.
He also raised the issue of strengthening the Congress organisation at the grassroots level, asserting it was much needed in the fight against the ruling BJP and to oust it from power.
A day later, Digvijaya Singh said he had already stated whatever he had to say. "For 50 years I have been with the Congress party, and I have fought these communal forces, whether in the assembly, parliament or in the organisation," he noted.
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"I have basic differences and am opposed to their ideology. I have and will continue to fight against such people," Singh claimed. When asked to comment on his Saturday's remarks, he said, "Every organisation needs strengthening.
Tharoor, when asked to comment on the issue, said, "The organisation should be strengthened, there is no doubt."
On being seated next to Singh and whether the two exchanged views on the matter, Tharoor said, "We keep talking with each other, we are friends and talk to each other."
"It is the 140th foundation day of the Congress. It is a very important event for the party. It is a day in which we look back on our very remarkable history and the contributions the party has made to the nation," he also told reporters.
In a post on X, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, "Today marks the 140th anniversary of the founding of the Indian National Congress, an organisation that played a pivotal role in leading India's struggle for independence from British rule."
"Since its first session in 1885, the party has remained a cornerstone of the nation's democratic journey and political evolution. The occasion was marked with solemnity and camaraderie at Indira Bhavan today," Tharoor said in his post.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said, "I feel the BJP is distorting the intent of Digvijaya's post. The Sangh, which spreads hatred and gets inspiration from the ideology of Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, we don't need to learn anything from them."
"We are the Indian National Congress, and we fought the freedom struggle against injustice and exploitation of the British rule, and turned it into a Jan Andolan. We don't need to learn anything from anyone; rather, others should learn from us," Shrinate claimed.
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Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said, "We have a lot in the Congress, and others should learn from the Congress instead. We certainly don't need to learn from the RSS as we oppose that ideology."
Another leader, Rajiv Shukla, said, "The roots of this party are so deep that they can never be wiped out."
#WATCH | Delhi | On Congress leader Digvijaya Singh praising the organisational strength of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "We have a history of 140 years, and we can learn a lot from it. We can learn from ourselves, too. Discipline is very… pic.twitter.com/NUfz7scRiu
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2025
