INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
China will no longer publish daily figures for Covid-19 cases and deaths, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, ending a
practice that began in early 2020.Cities across China are struggling with surging virus cases, resulting in pharmacy shelves stripped bare
and overflowing hospitals and crematoriums, after Beijing suddenly dismantled its zero-Covid regime earlier this month.The decision to scrap
testing.Last week, China also narrowed the criteria by which Covid-19 fatalities were counted -- a move experts said would suppress the
number of fatalities attributable to the virus.The NHC did not offer an explanation for its decision to stop releasing daily Covid
with cynicism, pointing to the increasing discrepancy between official statistics and infections within their families and social
those who die of respiratory failure -- and not pre-existing conditions exacerbated by the virus -- are counted.Only six Covid deaths have
been reported since Beijing unwound most of its restrictions.But crematorium workers interviewed by AFP have reported an unusually high
influx of bodies, while hospitals have said they are tallying multiple fatalities per day, as wards fill up with elderly patients and they
lockdowns as a victory, even as cases soar.While state media has largely refrained from reporting the grimmer side of the exit plan, they
have, to some extent, said hospitals are under stress from an influx of patients and a shortage of anti-fever drugs.In a rare
acknowledgement this week, a senior health official in the eastern city of Qingdao was quoted by the media as saying half a million people
are being infected daily.Health authorities in Zhejiang, a coastal province of around 65 million people south of Shanghai, said the number
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
