China Cuts Covid Death Toll by One as Doubts Grow Over Actual Count

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(Bloomberg) -- China removed a single fatality from its total Covid-19 death toll, a day after Beijing said it adopted a much narrower definition for mortalities, amid concerns the government is trying to downplay the severity of the impact from its abrupt pandemic pivot.

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The National Health Commission, China’s top health regulator, said on Wednesday that total Covid deaths now stand at 5,241 as of Tuesday, one less than the prior day, without explaining the rationale behind the reduction.

Wang Guiqiang, an infections doctor who spoke at an NHC briefing on Tuesday, said that China adopted a much narrower definition for Covid deaths because of what he described as a more scientific and realistic way of understanding Covid’s harm due to the omicron variant. Only mortalities from respiratory failure induced by the novel coronavirus will be counted, while those succumbing to other diseases or conditions following an infection won’t be included.

The NHC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the one-case reduction in the death tally.

The change in what defines a Covid death adds another layer of opaqueness to the real toll of the outbreak in China. Authorities have also stopped reporting asymptomatic infections, while the country’s ubiquitous network of PCR testing booths have been largely mothballed, meaning case counts are likely grossly underreported.

Reports of overwhelmed hospitals in northern Chinese cities and mortuaries having to cope with more-than-usual numbers of dead have appeared on social media after the government abandoned its Covid Zero curbs earlier this month, setting off widespread infections in densely populated cities, including the capital Beijing.

China has reported less than 10 Covid deaths since the beginning of December, despite a flood of anecdotes and reports of fatalities.

The number is markedly low compared with other countries that reopened after abandoning Covid elimination, including Australia and Singapore. It also flies in the face of China’s own experience earlier this year, when there were hundreds of deaths reported during a roughly two-month lockdown in Shanghai.

Read more about why China’s Covid death count doesn’t stack up

The new definition also puts China at odds with practices in many countries around the world that still deploy a broader definition of a Covid death.

The US attributes a death to Covid regardless of whether the infection is the underlying cause or a contributing factor. New Zealand counts a fatality for anyone who dies within 28 days of a positive test result. Infections can cause other conditions, such as blood clots, that then trigger other issues such as heart attacks. The virus can also hasten death from other ailments.

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