BEIJING- A recent study conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, USA, examined mortality data and online sources related to China's decision to dismantle its strict COVID-19 measures in December 2022.
The study suggests that this decision may have led to nearly 2 million excess deaths among individuals over 30 years old between December 2022 and January 2023 in mainland China, excluding Tibet. This surge in deaths occurred after the abandonment of China's three-year zero-COVID policy, which included extensive testing and stringent quarantine measures.
Notably, these excess deaths greatly surpass the 60,000 COVID-19-related deaths reported by the Chinese government for the same period. The study was published in JAMA Network Open.
In their study, researchers utilized statistical analysis, drawing from published obituaries and data obtained through searches on Baidu, a widely used Chinese internet search engine.
They emphasized the importance of their findings in providing an empirically derived benchmark estimate for understanding the consequences of lifting the zero-COVID policy in China, particularly in terms of its impact on population mortality.
Notably, China's National Health Commission has not yet responded to requests for comments on this report.
Throughout the global health community, there has been a consistent call for China to be more transparent with data, particularly as reports of increasing hospitalizations and deaths emerged. Concerns over new COVID-19 variants have further underscored the importance of data sharing.
It's worth mentioning that China ceased reporting official daily death figures at the close of 2022. According to the World Health Organization, China has reported 121,628 COVID-19 deaths, while the global death toll from the virus stands at nearly 7 million.
In a noteworthy development, one of China's provinces briefly posted data on its website in July, indicating a 70% increase in cremations during the first quarter of the year. However, this data was subsequently removed.
Despite Chinese leaders declaring a "decisive victory" over COVID-19 in February, the virus continues to circulate within the country. Beijing health officials recently highlighted that COVID-19 remains the top infectious disease in the capital, as reported by Chinese state media.
These officials have attributed this ongoing challenge to a new Omicron variant, named EG.5 or "Eris" in reference to the Greek Goddess of strife and discord.
According to the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, the EG.5 variant's proportion has surged from 0.6% in April to a dominant 71.6% in August, making it the prevalent strain in most Chinese provinces, as noted by the Global Times.