China reports that nearly 60,000 have died from COVID-19 since early December, following global complaints that it wasn’t releasing this data.
According to the report, 5503 people died from respiratory failure caused by the virus, while 54,435 people died from other ailments complicated by COVID-19.
According to the Chinese National Health Commission, this data only covers deaths that occurred in hospitals, hinting that the actual figure may be higher.
The massive wave of infections came after the country lifted its zero-covid policy.
Jiao Yahui, the head of the Bureau of Medical Administration, adds that the average age of the dead was 80, with 90.1% of the fatalities aged above 65.
The daily number of people going to those clinics peaked at 2.9 million on Dec. 23 and had fallen by 83% to 477,000 on Thursday, according to Jiao.
“These data show the national emergency peak has passed,” she said.
A number of countries in Europe and North America had issued COVID-19 restrictions on travellers from China to prevent the spread of the virus.
