China will stop reporting dairy figures for Covid-19 cases and deaths, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, ending a practice that began in early 2020,
The cities across China are fighting with surging virus cases, resulting in empty pharmacy shelves and overcrowded hospitals and crematoriums, after Beijing loosened the zero-Covid of government system earlier this month.
The decision to cancel the daily virus count came amid concerns about the country’s growing wave of infections not being accurately reflected in the official statistics.
In Beijing, the outbreak has become impossible to track following the end of mass testing.
Earlier, reports stated that China counted only those who died from respiratory failure and not pre-existing conditions exacerbated by the virus.
Some health experts estimate that 60% of the nation of 1.4 billion people could be infected over the coming months and more than two million could die.
The virus is also ruining China’s economic recovery as economists expected it to grow at less than 3% this year, the worst performance in nearly half a century.
