Several weeks have passed since the Chinese government abruptly reversed its “zero case” COVID-19 policy. This sudden opening has had the opposite effect: British health data firm Airfinity has estimated that approximately 14,700 people in China are dying from COVID-19 every day, with at least 2 million new cases reported daily. China has officially reported only five new COVID deaths per day in recent days, bringing the official total death toll in two years to 5,258, a very low figure compared to Western estimates. Patients at Shanghai’s Zhongshan Hospital, many of them elderly, were crowded into corridors on January 4th, amidst makeshift beds with patients on oxygen ventilators and IVs. A Reuters witness counted seven hearses in the parking lot of Shanghai’s Tongji Hospital. Workers were seen carrying at least 18 yellow bags used to move the bodies. China’s $17 trillion economy has grown at its slowest pace in nearly half a century due to the disruptions caused by COVID. This likely prompted the government’s U-turn. Official cases are not being counted. Even the definition of “COVID-19 death” has been redefined. Several estimation models, including one funded by the Chinese CDC, predict one million deaths due to reopening.
