Beijing: China's National Health Commission, which used to issue the country's COVID-19 case figures on a daily basis, starting Sunday stopped publishing the update, according to The Global Times. "China's National Health Commission (NHC) will stop publishing daily COVID-19 case data from Sunday. Instead, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release COVID-related info for study and reference," NHC said in a statement.
New modelling by Airfinity has examined data from China's regional provinces. The current outbreak is growing more rapidly in some regions than in others. Cases are currently rising much more quickly in Beijing and Guangdong. "Using the trends in regional data our team of epidemiologists has forecast the first peak to be in regions where cases are currently rising and a second peak driven by later surges in other Chinese provinces," Airfinity said in a statement.
The Airfinity model estimates case rates could reach 3.7 million a day in a January peak and 4.2 million a day in March 2023. Airfinity's Head of Vaccines and Epidemiology Dr Louise Blair said, "China has stopped mass testing and is no longer reporting asymptomatic cases. The combination means the official data is unlikely to be a true reflection of the outbreak being experienced across the country. "
China has also changed the way it records COVID-19 deaths to only include those who die from respiratory failure or pneumonia after testing positive. This is different to other countries that record deaths within a time frame of a positive test or where COVID-19 is recorded to have attributed to the cause of death. This change could downplay the extent of deaths seen in China." (ANI)
