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China’s National Health Commission announced that it will cease publishing national daily COVID-19 case figures amid a surge of infections. Earlier this month, China loosened its stringent “zero-COVID” policy after mass protests.
The Guardian reported that although the country has narrowed its definition of a COVID death and reported fewer than 10 deaths in the past two weeks, a health data firm estimated that there are, in fact, 5,000 people dying of the virus daily.
“Relevant COVID information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research,” the NHC said in a statement, breaking a three-year precedent for reporting case and death counts.