Covid data transparent, insists China as nations impose more travel curbs
India TodayWhen China, a country of 1.4 billion people, suddenly decided to end zero-Covid policy three years into the pandemic, there was an explosion in number of fresh cases. READ | China may become breeding ground for new Covid variants as cases spike: Experts This created a Covid scare forcing countries to begin testing of fliers from China and elsewhere. Covid infections started to sweep across China in November, picking up pace this month after Beijing dismantled its zero-Covid policies including regular testing on its population and publication of data on asymptomatic cases. Jiao Yahui from the National Health Commission said China counts Covid deaths only as cases of people who died of respiratory failure induced by the virus after testing positive with a nucleic acid test, rather than other countries, which include all deaths within 28 days of positive tests. "The real intention is to sabotage China's three years of Covid control efforts and attack the country's system," state-run tabloid Global Times said in an article late on Thursday, calling the restrictions "unfounded" and "discriminatory."