China reports first COVID deaths in weeks as doubts gather over official count - Reuters

BEIJING, Dec 19 (Reuters) - China reported its archetypal COVID-related deaths successful weeks connected Monday amid rising doubts implicit whether the authoritative number was capturing the afloat toll of a illness that is ripping done cities aft the authorities relaxed strict anti-virus controls.

Monday's 2 deaths were the archetypal to beryllium reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) since Dec. 3, days earlier Beijing announced that it was lifting curbs which had mostly kept the microorganism successful cheque for 3 years but triggered wide protests past month.

Though connected Saturday, Reuters journalists witnessed hearses lined up extracurricular a designated COVID-19 crematorium successful Beijing and workers successful hazmat suits carrying the dormant wrong the facility. Reuters could not instantly found if the deaths were owed to COVID.

A hashtag connected the 2 reported COVID deaths rapidly became the apical trending taxable connected China's Twitter-like Weibo level connected Monday morning.

"What is the constituent of incomplete statistics?" asked 1 user. "Isn't this cheating the public?," wrote another.

The NHC did not instantly respond to questions from Reuters connected the accuracy of its data.

Officially China has suffered conscionable 5,237 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, including the latest 2 fatalities, a tiny fraction of its 1.4 cardinal colonisation and precise debased by planetary standards.

But wellness experts person said China whitethorn wage a terms for taking specified stringent measures to shield a colonisation that present lacks earthy immunity to COVID-19 and has debased vaccination rates among the elderly.

Some fearfulness China's COVID decease toll could rise supra 1.5 million successful coming months.

Respected Chinese quality outlet Caixin connected Friday reported that 2 authorities media journalists had died aft contracting COVID, and past connected Saturday that a 23-year-old aesculapian pupil had besides died. It was not instantly wide which, if any, of these deaths were included successful authoritative decease tolls.

"The (official) fig is intelligibly an undercount of COVID deaths," said Yanzhong Huang, a planetary wellness specializer astatine the Council connected Foreign Relations (CFR), a U.S. deliberation tank.

That "may bespeak the deficiency of authorities quality to efficaciously way and show the illness concern connected the crushed aft the illness of the wide PCR investigating regime, but it whitethorn besides beryllium driven by efforts to debar wide panic implicit the surge of COVID deaths," helium said.

The NHC reported 1,995 symptomatic infections for Dec. 18, compared with 2,097 a time earlier.

But corruption rates person besides go an unreliable usher arsenic acold little mandatory PCR investigating is being conducted pursuing the caller easing. The NHC stopped reporting asymptomatic cases past week citing the investigating drop.

China's stocks fell and the yuan eased against the dollar connected Monday, arsenic investors grew acrophobic that surging COVID-19 cases would further measurement connected the world's 2nd largest system contempt pledges of authorities support.

The microorganism was besides sweeping done trading floors successful Beijing and spreading accelerated successful the fiscal hub of Shanghai, with unwellness and lack thinning already airy commercialized and forcing regulators to cancel a play gathering vetting nationalist stock sales.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp (6723.T) said connected Monday it had suspended enactment astatine its Beijing plant owed to COVID-19 infections.

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China's main epidemiologist Wu Zunyou connected Saturday said the state was successful the throes of the archetypal of 3 COVID waves expected this winter, which was much successful enactment with what radical said they are experiencing connected the ground.

"I'd accidental sixty to seventy percent of my colleagues...are infected close now," Liu, a 37-year-old assemblage canteen idiosyncratic successful Beijing, told Reuters, requesting to beryllium identified by his surname.

While apical officials person been downplaying the menace posed by the caller Omicron strain of the microorganism successful caller weeks, authorities stay acrophobic astir the elderly, who person been reluctant to get vaccinated.

Officially, China's vaccination complaint is supra 90%, but the complaint for adults who person received booster doses of the vaccine drops to 57.9%, and to 42.3% for radical aged 80 and above, according to authorities data.

In the Shijingshan territory of Beijing, aesculapian workers person been going door-to-door offering to vaccinate aged residents successful their homes, China's Xinhua quality bureau reported connected Sunday.

But it is not conscionable the aged that are wary of vaccines.

"I don't spot it," Candice, a 28-year-old headhunter successful Shenzhen told Reuters, citing stories from friends astir wellness impacts, arsenic good arsenic akin wellness warnings connected societal media. Candice spoke connected information that lone her archetypal sanction beryllium used.

Overseas-developed vaccines are unavailable successful mainland China to the wide public, which has relied connected inactivated shots by section manufacturers for its vaccine rollout.

While China's aesculapian assemblage successful wide doesn't uncertainty the information of China's vaccines, some accidental questions remain implicit their efficacy compared to foreign-made mRNA counterparts.

Reporting by Liz Lee, Martin Quin Pollard, Eduardo Baptista, Jing Wang and Ryan Woo successful Beijing and David Kirton successful Shenzhen; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.