CHINA - Covid, what Covid?

Beijing doesn't like hard numbers. Unsurprisingly, the lifting of Covid restrictions in the country in December 2022 triggered an unprecedented wave of infections and deaths. All of which is likely to shed light on the haphazard management of the sudden lifting of controls, and thus destabilize the government. Unless the statistics disappear.

Nothing could be easier. The local authorities have multiplied measures and bans to keep the pandemic's figures under wraps: deleting data on mortality and cremation volumes, banning the mention of "Covid-19" on death certificates, not publishing reports and, get ready, redefining what constitutes a "Covid-related death". 

 

A rare leak in this well-crafted omerta: in the first quarter of 2023, Zhejiang province reported a 73% jump in cremations compared with the previous year. Before reversing course and withdrawing these publications from public view.

 

According to some observers, this quantifiable increase in the number of deaths in the region is just the tip of the iceberg, with the death toll 10 times higher than the official figures. Remember that, for almost two weeks in December, the country reported no deaths due to Covid-19, and mentioned no form of excess mortality. The argument put forward by the authorities? The central government needed time to process the data collected.