Speculation about China’s Covid-19 death count is rife. The country’s National Health Commission estimated that the virus infects 37 million people a day. Beijing will stop sharing daily Covid data as it targets herd immunity. India and China held the 17th round of military talks on the Chinese side to resolve issues in Eastern Ladakh. A new section of the China-Russia Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline has been launched. Chinascope brings you the last newsletter edition of 2022.
China over the week
China’s National Health Commission held an internal meeting on Wednesday, which became an instant headline around the world, according to reports by Bloomberg. The health body said in internal discussions that as many as 37 million people in China might have been infected with Covid on a single day last week.
According to minutes of a health body’s meeting seen by Bloomberg, as many as 248 million people—almost 18 per cent of the population—likely contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December.
But what has caught the world’s attention are reports of a rising death toll linked to the new Covid surge.
There have been so many people dying,” said Zhao Yongsheng, a funeral home worker, according to the Associated Press. “They work day and night, but they can’t burn them all,” Zhao Yongsheng added.
Reporters working for Associated Press could witness the crematoriums southwest of Beijing city in Gaobeidian receiving a large number of ambulances.
“Over two hours at the Gaobeidian crematorium on Thursday, AP journalists observed three ambulances and two vans unload with bodies,” wrote Dake Kang of the Associated Press.
Just over an hour’s drive from Beijing, the hospital hallways are packed.
At Baoding No. 2 Hospital, in Zhuozhou, Wednesday, patients thronged the hallway of the emergency ward. Patients were breathing with the help of respirators. One woman wailed after doctors told her that a loved one had died,” reported Associated Press.
People are bombarding Chinese social media sites with comments like “everyone I know has it”—the ‘it’ meaning Covid.
