China announced on Saturday at least 60,000 deaths in hospitals linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, since the lifting of health restrictions in the country a month ago.
"A total of 59,938 (deaths) were recorded between December 8, 2022 and January 12, 2023," health authority official Jiao Yahui told reporters.
This report does not take into account deaths recorded outside medical facilities.
Among these deaths, 5,503 were caused directly by respiratory failure linked to Covid-19, said this official.
But we also need to know that Beijing reviewed its methodology for accounting for Covid deaths in December.
Only people who died directly from respiratory failure linked to the coronavirus are now included in the statistics.
China vs WHO
This controversial change in methodology means that a large number of deaths are no longer listed as being due to Covid.
The World Health Organization (WHO) criticized this new Chinese definition of a Covid death last week, deeming it “too narrow”.
Beijing had castigated these criticisms and called on the WHO to adopt an "impartial" position on the Covid.
On Wednesday, the Chinese health authorities had considered that it was "not necessary" to dwell immediately on the precise number of deaths linked to Covid.
After three years of some of the most draconian restrictions in the world, China abruptly lifted most of its health measures against the coronavirus in early December.
The number of patients has grown rapidly.
Hospitals find themselves overwhelmed with elderly patients and crematoriums appear overwhelmed by the influx of bodies.
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