Since early December, 60,000 individuals, according to China, have died from COVID.

Since China abruptly abandoned its stringent “zero-Covid” policy in early December, about 60,000 individuals have perished from the disease, a medical representative from the National Health Commission (NHC) revealed at a news briefing in Beijing on Saturday.

Between December 8 and January 12, according to Jiao Yahui, head of the NHC’s medical affairs division, China recorded 59,938 deaths linked to COVID. Of those fatalities, 5,503 were attributable to respiratory failure brought on by Covid infections, while 54,435 involved individuals who had both Covid infections and underlying illnesses like cancer and cardiovascular conditions.

Only those Covid patients who passed away from respiratory failure were previously listed in China as having died from Covid. According to data posted on the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, China only reported 37 local Covid cases deaths in the month following December 8 even though the outbreak has overrun hospitals and cemeteries amid apparent Covid increases in numerous locations.

Top global health officials have also urged Beijing to share more information about the explosive spread of Covid in China, where reports of overcrowded hospitals and funeral homes have surfaced. The World Health Organization, the United States, and China have accused each other of “under-representing” the severity of its current outbreak.

The clinical visits for fever and Covid hospitalisation, according to Jiao, the medical official, have already peaked in China.

The NHC reports a decline in fever clinic visits, both in urban and rural areas, since the high on December 23, 2022, when more over 2.86 million people went there.

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According to Jiao on Saturday, 477,000 individuals visited fever centers across China on January 12.

Hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients reached their high on January 5, 2023, according to the NHC, when 1.63 million people were admitted. As of January 12, 1.27 million Covid users were still hospitalized, Jiao added.