Advertisement
Coronavirus China
ChinaScience

China reports first 2 Covid deaths since virus controls eased

  • Number of deaths reported smaller than expected ‘but consistent with the very low rate of PCR testing’, expert says
  • Cases are surging in Beijing, where hospitals are filling up and there is an apparent rise in demand at funeral homes

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
24
An ambulance outside a fever clinic in Beijing on Monday. China has reported the first Covid-related deaths in weeks amid a surge in cases. Photo: AP
Xinlu LiangandZhenzhen Liu
China reported two Covid-related deaths on Monday, the first official fatalities since the government abandoned its stringent anti-virus controls earlier this month.
Advertisement

Benjamin Cowling, head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong, said the number of deaths reported since the restrictions eased was “a bit smaller than we might expect, but consistent with the very low rate of PCR testing in China now”.

“I think there are deaths due to Covid in China which are not laboratory confirmed and therefore not counted in the official tally, but that is true anywhere in the world – it’s not something unique to China,” he said.

11:33

Trace, test, lock down, repeat: Three years under China’s zero-Covid strategy

Trace, test, lock down, repeat: Three years under China’s zero-Covid strategy
China is facing an unprecedented wave of infections after a sudden policy shift from zero-Covid that followed protests in multiple cities over lockdowns and mass testing. Those who test positive can now isolate at home instead of being sent to a quarantine facility, while regular PCR testing is no longer compulsory and people can opt to take rapid antigen tests.
Health authorities stopped reporting asymptomatic cases on Wednesday and admitted there was a discrepancy between actual and reported case numbers since mass testing was abandoned.
China logged 1,918 cases on Monday and the two deaths, all in Beijing, where hospitals are facing staff shortages and an influx of patients since the policy U-turn.
Advertisement

Many residents in the capital are struggling to get hold of medicine, with long queues at hospital fever clinics and a spike in calls for ambulances.

At the Beijing Dongjiao Funeral Home, which handles Covid cases, grieving relatives say they have been kept waiting for days to have family members cremated.

Advertisement