China stops publishing daily infection numbers as Covid explodes

Covid surge in China: China's National Health Commission (NHC) has stopped publishing daily Covid numbers amid the worsening situation in the country. Covid has exploded in China, which, by some estimates, is recording half a million cases a day. However, official records till Saturday showed only just a few thousand of cases and no deaths. This also raised doubts about the reliability of the data coming out of the NHC. 

The commission has now said that Covid information will now be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It, however, did not elaborate on when the next numbers will be released.      

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China is witnessing an unprecedented rise in Covid cases since it lifted its zero-Covid policy following rare protests.

US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) predicts over 1 million Covid deaths in 2023 in China.

Epidemiologist and professor Ali H Mokdad said IHME projects about 323,000 total Covid deaths in China by April 1st as a result of the shift in policy (about 293,000 reported deaths).  

Mokadas also said that the institute has included a no-mandate scenario which suggests that without social distancing mandates the death toll could exceed 500,000 by April 1st. 

Earlier this week, WHO's Dr Ryan said while official numbers coming from China were relatively low, anecdotally ICUs were filling up. He urged Beijing to provide more information about the spread of the virus.

Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding on Saturday said that the situation in China is such that even top-level hospitals in Beijing were running out of oxygen. 

"RUNNING OUT OF OXYGEN… at even top-level hospitals in the capitol city… it’s becoming that bad," he said. 

Eric also questioned the 'zero-death' claim by Chinese officials. He in a tweet said: "Overflowing hospital morgues— Fever meds shortage, oxygen tanks EMPTY, hospitals overwhelmed, blood shortage, death tolls soaring among elderly ==>lots of body bags — even at a top Beijing hospital too. Worsening #COVID19 yet to come. But still 0 official deaths," he said. 

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(With inputs from Reuters)