China on Saturday reported almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths in just over a month, the first major toll released by authorities since Beijing loosened virus restrictions in early December.
The government has been widely accused of underreporting the number of coronavirus fatalities since the abandonment of its zero-COVID policy.
Beijing revised its methodology for categorizing COVID fatalities last month, saying it would count only those who die specifically of respiratory failure caused by the virus.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization was continuing to "ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalization and deaths, as well as... viral sequencing."
Another expert suggested at the same press conference that China could determine the number of COVID deaths after the fact by looking at the overall excess mortality rate.University of Hong Kong researchers have estimated nearly one million Chinese may die this winter. During an outbreak in Hong Kong last year, vaccine hesitancy among older people was a major factor in the high death toll.
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