The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of the Chinese executive declared on Tuesday that the deaths and serious cases of covid-19 in the country will be released weekly and later monthly, local media reported today.
The National Health Commission had already announced on Monday that, as of January 8, covid-19 will no longer be a category A disease – the maximum level of danger and for its containment the most severe measures are necessary. – to become category B, which includes looser control, thus marking the end of the “covid zero” policy that had been in force for almost three years.
After that date, information on deaths and serious cases due to the disease will become weekly and, “following the evolution of the pandemic”, will become “monthly”, said the Joint Mechanism, which did not give further details on the matter.
Likewise, the authorities will not notify the number of close contacts of those infected with covid-19 nor will they distinguish between local and imported cases, contrary to what the daily reports published since the beginning of the pandemic indicated.
In addition, the end of mandatory routine PCR tests for most of the population resulted in significantly lower case detection than the actual spread of the virus, in addition, asymptomatic people and those with mild symptoms can now do quarantine in their homes.
The rapid spread of the virus across the country has cast doubt on the reliability of official figures, which reported only a handful of deaths from the disease, although, for example, Zhejiang province (east) recently estimated that one million of its inhabitants were dying. get infected every day.
According to an expert cited by the state press, deaths caused by underlying diseases in patients who were infected by the new coronavirus are not counted as deaths from covid-19.
Hospitals in large cities such as Beijing have been under great pressure and difficulties in meeting all patients, according to testimonies collected on social networks in the country.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) was “very concerned” about the evolution of covid-19 in China and demanded “more information”, to which the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied that Beijing has shared its data “in an open, timely and transparent manner” since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Chinese Government assured earlier this month that the “conditions” were in place for the country to adjust its strict “covid zero” policy in the face of a “new situation” in which the virus causes fewer deaths.
The official press also started a few weeks ago to minimize the risk of the Omicron variant through numerous articles and interviews with experts, a change of arguments that was accompanied by the relaxation of some of the most severe restrictions.
The changes came after the strong protests of the population in several parts of the country, after the death of ten people in a building apparently confined in Urumqi (northwest), demonstrating the fatigue of the people with the severe measures imposed by the Chinese Government.
