The fact that China has not updated its daily Covid-19 reporting for the last three days has added to worldwide fears that the lack of information is masking the full effect of the world’s most widespread epidemic.
Monday was the final time the government provided a daily report on the situation with the Covid-19 outbreak. This update included the number of instances, as well as the number of very sick patients and fatalities.
Although there was no official announcement of the closure, health authorities indicated in December that China will transition to monthly reporting as part of its viral management reduction. However, they did not provide a date that was exact for the shift.
The lack of knowledge on the effect of the sudden shift of the epidemic in China in December is driving fears throughout the globe that the unrestrained spread of the virus might sow mutations. This has pushed numerous governments to enact safeguards targeting tourists from the country.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization reiterated its request for further data on Covid-19 from China and emphasised the need of sharing information on the strains that are circulating, as well as the growth or reduction in cases in certain cities and rural regions.
The apparent termination of the daily report in the midst of a record surge of infections stands in contrast to the practises of other nations, which continue to make information publicly available long after transitioning to living with Covid-19.
The most important regional hubs in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, are reporting their daily results.
After the Covid-19 labs reopened in New Zealand, the country continued to announce new instances of the virus every day for many months until switching to posting them once a week.
As a result of the extensive testing efforts and of tracing that have been underpinned by the government’s zero-Covid policy, China’s daily updates have become the gold standard for information on every infection in the country following the initial Wuhan outbreak that overwhelmed the healthcare system in early 2020. This is due to the fact that China’s healthcare system has been able to keep up with the outbreak.
However, the reliability of the number of instances has deteriorated over the course of the last month as a result of China’s decision to discontinue mass testing as well as other control measures. The official definition of what constitutes a death from Covid-19 has been criticised for being too limited, which has led to criticism of the disease’s death toll estimates.
Since China made the big shift away from zero-Covid at the beginning of December, the country has recorded fewer than 40 fatalities. The statistic, however, is at odds with the reports coming in from funeral houses and crematories around the nation that they are completely overwhelmed with the number of people needing their services.
According to the data that was released on Monday, there were 7,557 severe cases throughout the country. This number represents an increase of more than 1,100 instances compared to the previous day. As of Sunday, there were around 14,000 newly confirmed cases of the disease.
