BEIJING (AFP) – China reported nearly 13,000 COVID-related deaths in hospitals between January 13 and 19, after a top health official said the vast majority of the population had already been infected.
The death toll came a week after China said nearly 60,000 people had died with COVID in hospitals in just over a month.
China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Saturday 681 hospitalised patients died of respiratory failure caused by coronavirus infection, and 11,977 had died of other diseases combined with an infection over the period.
The figures do not include anyone who died at home.
Airfinity, an independent forecasting firm, estimated daily COVID deaths in China will peak at about 36,000 over the Lunar New Year holiday. The firm also estimated that over 600,000 people have died from the disease since China abandoned the zero-COVID policy in December.
China has passed the peak period of COVID patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and with critical conditions, an official from the National Health Commission Guo Yanhong told a news conference on Thursday.
