AP: In China, tens of thousands of people could have died from the coronavirus in a month

A large number of new cases of infection with COVID-19 are recorded in China. Hospitals and crematoriums are overcrowded as a result of the sudden surge in disease, and many people are dying.

The Associated Press writes about it.

The countryʼs National Health Commission said 5,503 people had died from respiratory failure caused by the virus since Dec. 8, and 54,435 people had died from other illnesses combined with the infection. The average age of the deceased is 80 years, and 90% of the deceased had various concomitant diseases.

The agency said these "deaths related to COVID-19" occurred in hospitals, meaning that those who died at home were not included in the statistics. At the same time, China assures that the peak has already passed and the incidence will decrease in the future.

• At the end of November, protests took place in Shanghai due to strict quarantine restrictions that have been in effect since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Similar protests began in other Chinese cities. The cause was a fire in a high-rise building in the city of Urumqi, where 10 people died. After that, the idea began to spread among people that the dead could not escape in time because the building was closed due to quarantine. These protests also raised slogans against the Chinese government and Xi Jinping.
• The Chinese authorities have decided to lessen quarantine coronavirus restrictions seriously. The country no longer requires negative PCR tests, rapid tests or "health codes" to enter most public places. Exceptions are homes for the elderly, social security and medical institutions, schools and kindergartens. Also, in order to optimize testing in the administrative regions of China, mass testing for coronavirus is not carried out without an urgent need.
• At the same time, Bloomberg, citing sources in the National Health Commission of China, reported that since the beginning of December, almost 248 million people, or 18% of the population, have been infected with the coronavirus in the country.