Deaths due to coronavirus decreased during the Spring Festival holiday in China

According to the statement made by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), 6 thousand 364 deaths due to the virus were recorded in hospitals on January 20-26.

In the statement, it was informed that 289 patients died from respiratory failure due to the virus, and 6 thousand 75 patients died from complications related to chronic diseases aggravated by the virus.

While the number of deaths decreased by nearly half compared to the week of January 13-19, when 12 thousand 658 deaths were reported, the number of confirmed deaths increased to 78 thousand 960 as of December 7, 2022, when the COVID-19 measures were lifted, with the newly announced figures.

While 215 thousand 958 patients, 26 thousand 156 of whom are severe, are still being treated in hospitals due to COVID-19, the number of patients has decreased by half compared to the previous week.

According to data shared by the CDC this week, the number of patients and virus-related deaths have tended to decrease in the last month after the relaxation of COVID-19 measures in the country.

While the number of those applying to hospitals and clinics reached the highest number with 2 million 860 million on 23 December 2022, it decreased by 97.8 percent in a month and fell to 63 thousand on 23 January.

While the number of people receiving treatment reached its highest point with 1 million 630 thousand on January 5, it decreased by 84.8 percent to 248,000 on January 23.

The number of daily deaths, which reached its highest level with 4 thousand 273 on January 4, decreased to 896 on December 23, decreasing by 79 percent.

CDC Chief Epidemiologist Vu Zunyou reported on January 22 that more than 80 percent of China’s 1.4 billion population was estimated to be infected in the time since the lockdown was lifted.

Do the numbers reflect the real picture?

The number of patients and deaths causes hesitation due to the uncertainty about the standards applied in keeping statistics, as well as the fact that they are quite low compared to estimates based on the size of the Chinese population and the scale of the epidemic.

The CDC, in its instruction sent to hospitals at the beginning of last month, stated that only deaths whose primary causes of death were pneumonia and respiratory failure due to the virus would be counted from COVID-19, by setting new standards for keeping statistics.

With the abrupt lifting of COVID-19 measures in early December, China faced the largest mass spread ever seen in a single country. After the epidemic wave triggered by the spread in major cities, there were concerns that the epidemic would spread to small and medium-sized cities and rural settlements, as those who visited their hometowns to celebrate the New Year on Spring Festival.

Airfinity, a health data services and analysis company headquartered in London, pointed out that the number of cases will rise again across the country in the two-week period covering before and after the New Year celebration, and the number of daily cases increased to 4.8 million in the two-week period covering 13-27 January. He estimated that the death toll could reach up to 36,000.