China State Media Plays Down Severity Of COVID Wave

State media in China played down the severity of its surge of COVID-19 infections ahead of an expected briefing on Tuesday by its scientists to the World Health Organization, which is hoping for detailed data on the evolution of the virus. China’s abrupt U-turn on COVID controls on Dec. 7, as well as the accuracy of its case and mortality data, have come under increasing scrutiny at home and abroad and prompted some countries to impose travel curbs. The policy shift followed protests over the “zero COVID” approach championed by Xi Jinping, marking the strongest show of public defiance in his decade-old presidency and coinciding with the slowest growth in China in nearly half a century. As the virus spreads unchecked, funeral parlours have reported a spike in demand for their services and international health experts predict at least one million deaths in the world’s most populous country this year. 

China reported three new COVID deaths for Monday, taking its official death toll since the pandemic began to 5,253. On Tuesday, the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, cited Chinese experts as saying the illness caused by the virus was relatively mild for most people. “Severe and critical illnesses account for 3% to 4% of infected patients currently admitted to designated hospitals in Beijing,” Tong Zhaohui, vice president of the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, told the newspaper. Kang Yan, head of West China Tianfu Hospital of Sichuan University, said that in the past three weeks, a total of 46 patients had been admitted to intensive care units, or about 1% of symptomatic infections. The emergencies area at the Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai was packed with patients on Tuesday, most of them elderly, some were in beds in the corridor, covered with blankets and receiving IV treatment, while dozens were queuing around them, waiting to be seen by a doctor. It was unclear how many were there with COVID. Reports said. The World Health Organization has urged Chinese health officials to regularly share specific and real-time information on the COVID situation. The WHO has invited Chinese scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing at a Tuesday meeting of a technical advisory group. It has also asked China to share data on hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.