China tries to ‘bury the memory’ and trauma of zero-COVID era
1 year ago

China tries to ‘bury the memory’ and trauma of zero-COVID era

Al Jazeera  

A year after Beijing abandoned the policy’s strict lockdowns and endless testing, its failures remain unaddressed. “Doctors and nurses were rushing around everywhere between long lines of patients waiting their turn, and people were even sitting on the floor and against the walls,” Ma, who is 36 and works as a sales representative in China’s northeastern Shandong province, told Al Jazeera. “Last time I was at the hospital was in late December last year, and I was also sitting in a crowded waiting room filled with coughing people,” she said. “So many people suffered under the zero-COVID policy, and so many people died when it ended,” Ma said. “The zero-COVID policy became financially unsustainable, and scientifically impossible, while the confidence in the policy also began to drastically decline,” Long said.

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History of this topic

China’s chief epidemiologist who helped drive the anti-COVID fight dies at age 60
1 year, 1 month ago

China’s chief epidemiologist who helped drive the anti-COVID fight dies at age 60

Associated Press  

BANGKOK — Wu Zunyou, an epidemiologist who helped drive the country’s strict zero-COVID measures in China that suspended access to cities and confined millions to their homes, died on Friday. An announcement from China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention about Wu’s death gave no cause, but said that “rescue measures failed.” Wu’s health had been poor. Yet, as China …

China Omits Cremation Data to Hide True Pandemic Death Toll following Lifting of Covid Zero
1 year, 6 months ago

China Omits Cremation Data to Hide True Pandemic Death Toll following Lifting of Covid Zero

News 18  

A Chinese quarterly report on marriage and social welfare for the fourth quarter of 2022 dropped the section highlighting the number of cremations held last winter, indicating that it withheld a key indicator of the pandemic death toll when China faced its largest wave of Covid-19 cases. If the data were released, the quarterly or year-on-year comparison could be used …

Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives
1 year, 9 months ago

Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives

Associated Press  

BEIJING — When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn’t ready for a massive onslaught of cases. “It wasn’t a sound public health decision at all,” said a China CDC official, declining to be named to speak candidly on a sensitive matter. At a mid-April internal panel discussion recently made public by the Beijing-based Center for …

Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives
1 year, 9 months ago

Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives

LA Times  

An elderly patient uses a ventilator in the hallway of the emergency ward in Beijing in January. Chinese state media claimed the decision to open up was based on “scientific analysis and shrewd calculation,” and “by no means impulsive.” But in reality, China’s ruling Communist Party ignored repeated efforts by top medical experts to kick-start exit plans until it was …

’China’s Zero Covid Policy completely…’: What Premiere Li Qiang had to say
1 year, 9 months ago

’China’s Zero Covid Policy completely…’: What Premiere Li Qiang had to say

Live Mint  

China got its new Premiere Li Qiang, who delivered his first speech on Monday. During his speech, Qiang vehemently defended the unenviable Zero Covid Policy brought about by the Xi Jinping government in the East Asian country. Qiang said the Zero Covid strategy followed by the country for over three years which hurt its economic growth also led to public …

China says 200 million treated for COVID since November, pandemic ‘decisively’ beaten
1 year, 10 months ago

China says 200 million treated for COVID since November, pandemic ‘decisively’ beaten

LA Times  

Commuters during the morning rush hour in the central business district of Beijing on Thursday. China says more than 200 million of its citizens have been diagnosed and treated for COVID-19 since it lifted strict containment measures beginning in November. With 800,000 of the most critically ill patients having recovered, China has “decisively beaten” the pandemic, according to notes from …

China says Covid-19 deaths, severe cases have fallen over 70% since peak
1 year, 10 months ago

China says Covid-19 deaths, severe cases have fallen over 70% since peak

India Today  

Critically ill COVID-19 cases in China are down 72% from a peak early this month while daily deaths among COVID-19 patients in hospitals have dropped 79% from their peak, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The CDC said the number of critically ill patients in China peaked on Jan. 4 at 128,000 cases and fell to …

China logs nearly 13,000 Covid deaths in a week
1 year, 11 months ago

China logs nearly 13,000 Covid deaths in a week

The Hindu  

China reported nearly 13,000 Covid-related deaths in hospitals between January 13 and 19, after a top health official said the vast majority of the population had already been infected. The death toll came a week after China said nearly 60,000 people had died with Covid in hospitals in just over a month -- but there has been widespread scepticism over …

China lifted 'zero covid' policy to eradicate Tibetans from Tibet: Report
1 year, 11 months ago

China lifted 'zero covid' policy to eradicate Tibetans from Tibet: Report

Op India  

After the mass protest against China’s Zero Covid policy, Beijing took a U-turn and loosened up its strict restriction only to use them as a tool to kill and eradicate the Tibetans from Tibet, as per the Voice Against Autocracy. According to the latest report, 100 people alone have died in Lhasa due to Covid since Beijing lifted its strict …

China says critical COVID cases have peaked as holiday travel surges
1 year, 11 months ago

China says critical COVID cases have peaked as holiday travel surges

The Hindu  

The number of COVID patients needing critical care in China's hospitals has peaked, health authorities said on Thursday, as millions travelled across the country for long-awaited reunions with families, raising fears of fresh outbreaks. There has been widespread scepticism over China's official COVID data since it abruptly axed anti-virus controls last month that had shielded China's 1.4 billion people from …

West's false COVID narratives hold no water
1 year, 11 months ago

West's false COVID narratives hold no water

China Daily  

A woman receives a booster dose in Chaoyang district of Beijing on July 13, 2022. First, some say that China's COVID-19 death toll does not include those who died as a result of delayed or denied medical treatment because of strict COVID-19 control measures. However, China's excess mortality during the pandemic was a negative number, which means China's COVID-19 policy …

China's Covid death data hides true toll: Report
1 year, 11 months ago

China's Covid death data hides true toll: Report

India TV News  

China Covid update: The nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths China reported for the first five weeks of its current outbreak, the largest the world has ever seen, may underestimate the true toll by hundreds of thousands of fatalities, experts were quoted as saying in a media report. China's abrupt pivot from Covid Zero in early December unleashed a surge of omicron …

WHO says its chief spoke with Chinese officials, welcomes COVID-19 data
1 year, 11 months ago

WHO says its chief spoke with Chinese officials, welcomes COVID-19 data

The Hindu  

The World Health Organization's head has spoken with Chinese authorities and the agency welcomed new information about the situation in the country, WHO said on Saturday after Beijing released new data showing a big jump in COVID-19-related deaths. Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke with Ma Xiaowei, director of China’s National Health Commission, about the wave of infections which erupted …

China reports 60,000 COVID-related deaths, says peak passed
1 year, 11 months ago

China reports 60,000 COVID-related deaths, says peak passed

Associated Press  

BEIJING — China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had COVID-19 since early December, offering hard numbers for an unprecedented surge that was apparent in overcrowded hospitals and packed crematoriums, even as the government released little data about the status of the pandemic for weeks. China stopped reporting data on COVID-19 deaths and infections after abruptly lifting …

China reports nearly 60,000 deaths due to Covid-19 complications in 35 days
1 year, 11 months ago

China reports nearly 60,000 deaths due to Covid-19 complications in 35 days

Firstpost  

The figure refers only to deaths recorded at medical facilities, with the total count likely to be higher. It includes 5,503 deaths caused by respiratory failure directly due to the virus, and 54,435 deaths caused by underlying diseases combined with Covid-19, Chinese health officials said Beijing: China’s health authorities on Saturday reported almost 60,000 Covid-19 related deaths in just over …

China reports almost 60,000 Covid-related deaths in a month
1 year, 11 months ago

China reports almost 60,000 Covid-related deaths in a month

Deccan Chronicle  

BEIJING: China's health authorities on Saturday reported almost 60,000 Covid-related deaths in just over a month, the first major death toll released by the government since the loosening of its virus restrictions in early December. China recorded 59,938 Covid-related deaths between December 8, 2022 and January 12 this year, Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of Medical Administration under the …

China reports almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths since December
1 year, 11 months ago

China reports almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths since December

The Hindu  

China’s National Health Commission on Saturday said the country had reported close to 60,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the ending of the stringent “zero-COVID” policy on December 7, 2022. In a 36-day period from December 8, 2022 to January 12, 2023, there were a total of 59,938 deaths, Jiao Yahui, director of the National Health Commission’s medical affairs department, said …

China says 60,000 people have died of Covid since early December
1 year, 11 months ago

China says 60,000 people have died of Covid since early December

CNN  

CNN — Close to 60,000 people have died of Covid in China since the country abruptly abandoned its tight “zero-Covid” policy in early December, a medical official from the National Health Commission told a press conference in Beijing on Saturday. The World Health Organization and the United States have accused China of “under-representing” the severity of its current outbreak, while …

China reports almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths, says peak has passed
1 year, 11 months ago

China reports almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths, says peak has passed

LA Times  

China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths among people who had COVID-19 since early December, offering hard numbers for an unprecedented surge that was apparent in overcrowded hospitals and packed crematoriums, even as the government released little data about the status of the pandemic for weeks. It said those “deaths related to COVID” occurred in hospitals, which left open the …

China’s Covid Policy: Beijing can’t be trusted as a responsible player
1 year, 11 months ago

China’s Covid Policy: Beijing can’t be trusted as a responsible player

Times of India  

TOI Quick Edits are written by a team of seasoned journalists from the Times of India's Edit Page and TOI-Online who respond to important news stories as they develop. MORE In another indictment of China’s Covid policy, the WHO has again said that Beijing needs to share more data on its Covid outbreak and that it still believes Chinese authorities …

WHO says Covid deaths in China ‘heavily underreported’; praises US transparency
1 year, 11 months ago

WHO says Covid deaths in China ‘heavily underreported’; praises US transparency

Hindustan Times  

The WHO reiterated Wednesday the need for China to share more data on its explosive Covid outbreak, while praising Washington's "radical transparency" in its efforts to battle a new sub-variant. "WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported from China," its emergencies director Michael Ryan told reporters. He blamed Beijing's narrow definition of what constitutes a Covid death, and also …

China's 'Great Migration' Kicks-off Under Shadow of Covid, 2 Billion People to Travel in 40 Days
1 year, 11 months ago

China's 'Great Migration' Kicks-off Under Shadow of Covid, 2 Billion People to Travel in 40 Days

News 18  

China on Saturday marked the first day of “chun yun”, the 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel known pre-pandemic as the world’s largest annual migration of people, bracing for a huge increase in travellers and the spread of COVID-19 infections. “China’s rural areas are wide, the population is large, and the per capita medical resources are relatively insufficient,” National …

In China, zero-COVID policy to zero COVID policies
1 year, 11 months ago

In China, zero-COVID policy to zero COVID policies

The Hindu  

On December 20, almost two weeks since China’s sudden and unexpected scrapping of its stringent “zero-COVID” policy, the country officially reported a little over 3,000 COVID-19 cases. The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, in the lead-up to the Congress, published three editorials on consecutive days, calling for “patience with current policies” and warning that “zero COVID must be adhered to”. …

WHO accuses China of downplaying Covid surge amid ‘risk to life’
1 year, 11 months ago

WHO accuses China of downplaying Covid surge amid ‘risk to life’

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “WHO is concerned about the risk to life in …

WHO worried about surge of COVID in China amid lack of info
1 year, 11 months ago

WHO worried about surge of COVID in China amid lack of info

Associated Press  

GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday the agency is “concerned about the risk to life in China” amid the coronavirus’ explosive spread across the country and the lack of outbreak data from the Chinese government. “The reality for China is that many countries they don’t have enough information to base their risk assessment,” he said. …

China’s Xi says country’s COVID prevention enters new phase
1 year, 11 months ago

China’s Xi says country’s COVID prevention enters new phase

Al Jazeera  

The president says Beijing overcame unprecedented challenges in the battle against COVID amid a new significant wave of cases in the country. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for more effort and unity as the country enters a “new phase” in its approach to combating the pandemic. “At present, the epidemic prevention and control is entering a new phase,” he …

China Covid surge: As Beijing relaxes travel curbs, all eyes on overburdened health infra
1 year, 11 months ago

China Covid surge: As Beijing relaxes travel curbs, all eyes on overburdened health infra

India Today  

As China moves to reopen borders, millions isolated in the country for over three years now have welcomed the decision with an outpouring of joy and relief. Searches for popular destinations increased tenfold within minutes of the announcement, with several searching for outbound group tours during the Lunar New Year holiday season in late January. However, the decision to relax …

Packed ICUs, crowded crematoriums: COVID-19 roils Chinese cities and towns
2 years ago

Packed ICUs, crowded crematoriums: COVID-19 roils Chinese cities and towns

The Hindu  

Yao Ruyan paced frantically outside the fever clinic of a county hospital in China’s industrial Hebei province, 70 kilometers southwest of Beijing. “There’s been so many people dying,” said Zhao Yongsheng, a worker at a funeral goods shop near a local hospital. “They work day and night, but they can’t burn them all.” Over two hours at the Gaobeidian crematorium …

Elderly leave cities as COVID infections surge in China
2 years ago

Elderly leave cities as COVID infections surge in China

Al Jazeera  

Families tell of sending elderly relatives away from China’s cities amid reports of surging cases and deaths. Since authorities began lifting China’s strict COVID restrictions in early December, numerous reports have emerged of people falling sick with the virus, hospitals overwhelmed with patients, and the country’s crematoriums struggling to keep up with an influx of bodies arriving at their doors. …

China’s stretched health system braces for peak in COVID-19 infections
2 years ago

China’s stretched health system braces for peak in COVID-19 infections

The Hindu  

Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 on a single day this week, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing estimates from the government’s top health authority. China is expecting a peak in COVID-19 infections within a week, a health official said, with authorities predicting extra strain on the country's health system even as they downplay …

One-day tally of COVID cases in China hits 37 million: Report
2 years ago

One-day tally of COVID cases in China hits 37 million: Report

Al Jazeera  

Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 on a single day this week, the Bloomberg news agency has reported, citing minutes from an internal meeting of the country’s National Health Commission held on Wednesday. Concerns over official statistics On Thursday, health data firm Airfinity estimated that there are likely more than 5,000 daily deaths and …

China’s Zero COVID Dilemma
2 years ago

China’s Zero COVID Dilemma

The Diplomat  

China’s commitment to “zero COVID” – which has the imprimatur of “core” leader Xi Jinping himself – has resulted in draconian lockdowns of entire cities, most famously Shanghai for two months in the spring of 2022. The final nail in the coffin came with the Party Congress work report, where Xi not only praised China’s “unswerving insistence to dynamic zero” …

How China ‘forced’ Covid positive student to work, ‘covered up’ death: Activist
2 years ago

How China ‘forced’ Covid positive student to work, ‘covered up’ death: Activist

Hindustan Times  

Chinese human right activist Jennifer Zeng, who has been tweeting about the ongoing Covid horror in China, on Wednesday shared a series of tweets disclosing how the authorities tried to cover up the death of a graduate student of a hospital affiliated with Sichuan University after allegedly forcing him to work even despite being tested Covid-19 positive. Chinese human right …

China says no new Covid deaths, but crematoriums ‘overwhelmed’ | Top points
2 years ago

China says no new Covid deaths, but crematoriums ‘overwhelmed’ | Top points

Hindustan Times  

While reports and social media posts claim that hospitals in China are struggling, pharmacy shelves have been stripped bare and many crematoriums are overwhelmed, China on Wednesday said “no one had died of Covid-19 the previous day”, after changing the criteria such that most virus deaths are no longer counted. Patients recover at a hospital in Zhuozhou city in northern …

WHO “very concerned” about reports of severe COVID in China
2 years ago

WHO “very concerned” about reports of severe COVID in China

Associated Press  

GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization said the agency is “very concerned” about rising reports of severe coronavirus disease across China after the country largely abandoned its “zero COVID” policy, warning that its lagging vaccination rate could result in large numbers of vulnerable people getting infected. At a press briefing on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus …

Beijing facing spike in severe Covid cases, says leading respiratory expert
2 years ago

Beijing facing spike in severe Covid cases, says leading respiratory expert

Hindustan Times  

Beijing is likely to see an increase in severe Covid-19 cases over the next two weeks, a leading Chinese respiratory specialist warned on Tuesday, as the capital continues to battle rising infections following the abrupt withdrawal of stringent ‘zero-Covid’ policies in early December. Respiratory disease expert Wang Guangfa warned that medical infrastructure in Beijing faces “additional stress” and advised the …

China reports first coronavirus deaths since easing zero-COVID policy
2 years ago

China reports first coronavirus deaths since easing zero-COVID policy

Firstpost  

Official case numbers are widely considered unreliable following the end of mandatory mass testing, while fears are mounting of a wave of infections in poor rural areas during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays Beijing: China on Monday reported its first deaths from Covid-19 since loosening its hardline containment policy, as hospitals and crematoriums struggle with outbreak authorities say is …

China could see nearly a million deaths as it exits zero-Covid, study says
2 years ago

China could see nearly a million deaths as it exits zero-Covid, study says

CNN  

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Hong Kong CNN — China’s abrupt and under-prepared exit from zero-Covid could lead to nearly 1 million deaths, according to a new study, as the country braces …

Funeral homes overwhelmed, bodies seen? China may be covering Covid deaths
2 years ago

Funeral homes overwhelmed, bodies seen? China may be covering Covid deaths

Hindustan Times  

The number of people dying due to Covid in Beijing is rising, according to media reports, despite China not reporting a fatality from the virus for two weeks. Yang Lianghua, a former People's Daily reporter, died on December 15, aged 74, while Zhou Zhichun, a former China Youth Daily editor, died on December 8, aged 77, according to financial magazine …

COVID-linked deaths seen in Beijing after virus rules eased
2 years ago

COVID-linked deaths seen in Beijing after virus rules eased

Deccan Chronicle  

Beijing: Outside a funeral home in eastern Beijing, dozens of people were bundled up in parkas and hats against the freezing temperatures Friday evening as workers in full protective suits wheeled out coffins one by one. About a half-dozen people inside described how another victim had struggled to breathe that morning before dying, and the death certificate listed “'pneumonia”' as …

COVID-linked deaths seen in Beijing after virus rules eased
2 years ago

COVID-linked deaths seen in Beijing after virus rules eased

Associated Press  

BEIJING — Outside a funeral home in eastern Beijing, dozens of people were bundled up in parkas and hats against the freezing temperatures Friday evening as workers in full protective suits wheeled out coffins one by one. On Wednesday, the government said it would stop reporting asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since they’ve become impossible to track with mass testing no longer …

China dials back its unpopular zero-COVID policy
2 years ago

China dials back its unpopular zero-COVID policy

The Hindu  

Published : Dec 14, 2022 18:00 IST The change, when it finally came, was both sudden and understated. The dramatic U-turn, after three years of the world’s most restrictive COVID-19 restrictions, was conveyed in a seemingly innocuous 160-word Xinhua report issued late in the evening of November 30 that recounted a meeting between Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, China’s top COVID-19 …

Chinese struggle to ‘summon the courage’ to live with COVID-19
2 years ago

Chinese struggle to ‘summon the courage’ to live with COVID-19

Al Jazeera  

For three years, people in China have been told COVID-19 is deadly and it has made it difficult to cope with Beijing’s sudden move to rollback controls. Experts have been studying the effect of prolonged lockdowns on people’s mental health since COVID-19 first emerged in Wuhan three years ago and the city of 8.5 million was sealed off. The Lancet, …

China to drop travel tracing requirement as it relaxes strict 'zero-COVID' policy
2 years ago

China to drop travel tracing requirement as it relaxes strict 'zero-COVID' policy

Firstpost  

The move follows the government’s snap announcement last week that it was ending many of the most draconian measures Beijing: China will drop a travel tracing requirement as part of an uncertain exit from its strict “zero-COVID” policies that have elicited widespread dissatisfaction. The move follows the government’s snap announcement last week that it was ending many of the most …

Under China’s ‘zero COVID,’ uncertainty reigns and unsettles
2 years ago

Under China’s ‘zero COVID,’ uncertainty reigns and unsettles

Associated Press  

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As coronavirus cases rose in Shanghai earlier this year and the city’s lockdown stretched from weeks to months, Leah Zhang’s feeling of suffocation grew. “I cried to the point where I can’t trust anything anymore,” said Zhang, who asked to be identified by her English name out of fear of government retribution for discussing a sensitive topic. …

China eases anti-COVID measures following protests
2 years ago

China eases anti-COVID measures following protests

Associated Press  

BEIJING — China rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign. Local officials must “take strict and detailed measures to protect people’s life, safety …

China announces roll-back of strict anti-COVID-19 measures
2 years ago

China announces roll-back of strict anti-COVID-19 measures

The Hindu  

In a sharp reversal, China has announced a series of measures rolling back some of the most draconian anti-COVID-19 restrictions. People who test positive for the virus will be able to isolate at home rather than in overcrowded and unsanitary field hospitals, and schools where there have been no outbreaks must return to in-class teaching. The announcement follows recent street …

China eases controls, gives no sign when 'zero-Covid' ends
2 years ago

China eases controls, gives no sign when 'zero-Covid' ends

The Hindu  

China is easing some of the world’s most stringent anti-virus controls and authorities say new variants are weaker. Restrictions could still tighten dynamically in lower-tier cities should hospitalizations surge.” The changes follow protests demanding an end to “zero-Covid” but are in line with Communist Party promises earlier to reduce disruption by easing quarantine and other restrictions. China faces “new situations …

China eases controls, gives no sign when 'zero COVID' ends
2 years ago

China eases controls, gives no sign when 'zero COVID' ends

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Restrictions could still tighten dynamically …

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