Corpses Overflowing at Crematorium... China Keeps COVID Death Toll 'Under Wraps'

Bloomberg: "Suppressing Death Toll to Prove Communist Superiority... Inseparable from Xi Jinping's Power Consolidation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] Suspicions are being raised that China, which is lifting its COVID-19 lockdowns, is concealing the number of COVID deaths.

Bloomberg reported on the 18th (local time) that although China announced that COVID infections had increased exponentially a month ago, only two deaths have been reported so far, suggesting that the actual number of deaths is much higher.

As China abandoned its 'Zero COVID' policy and shifted to a 'With COVID' approach, the number of COVID infections within the country is rapidly increasing. Similar to other countries that transitioned earlier to With COVID, China is experiencing shortages of medicines and medical staff, and increased time spent at home to avoid infection, but unlike those countries, there are no official death statistics.

In China's case, after lifting the Zero COVID policy earlier this month, it announced the first death last weekend. Until the 19th of last month, a week after the first provisional easing of COVID restrictions, the Chinese government officially reported only 11 deaths among a population of 1.4 billion.

This is far fewer than other countries that have reopened their economies or transitioned to With COVID after completing vaccination. For example, when the Omicron variant hit South Korea early this year, daily deaths rose to 6 per million people. Australia and New Zealand experienced daily deaths of 3 per million at the peak of COVID, and Singapore had about 2 deaths per million per day.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical School in the U.S., said, "The number of COVID deaths reported in China so far is suspiciously low," adding, "Rapid increases in infections generally lead to increases in COVID deaths one to two weeks later." He explained, "Vaccination coverage in China is insufficient relative to its population, especially among the elderly. We interpret China's COVID statistics with caution."

According to local sources in Beijing, workers at crematoriums and relatives have reported a flood of deaths, with at least dozens of people dying from COVID infection. However, Chinese authorities claim that all deaths testing positive for COVID are classified as COVID deaths. Yet, even Chinese citizens hardly trust the government statistics.

Bloomberg noted that speculation is growing that government and hospital officials are attributing COVID deaths to other mild illnesses.

Bloomberg analyzed, "China's ambiguous or downplayed reporting of death numbers aligns with its interests." It criticized, "China has used suppressed COVID death numbers over the past three years to demonstrate the superiority of its communist system," adding, "COVID policy is inseparable from President Xi Jinping's efforts to consolidate power after successfully securing a third term last October."