China says it will only count Covid deaths from respiratory failure in official toll

Adviser to National Health Commission says deaths among elderly people with other chronic illnesses will ‘not be counted as Covid-induced’

Despite reports of rising demand for funeral homes, only 7 deaths – all in Beijing – have been officially logged since restrictions were lifted this month

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A patient is wheeled into the fever clinic in Beijing on Monday amid a surge of cases in the capital. Photo: AP

Published: 6:11pm, 20 Dec 2022Updated: 6:47pm, 20 Dec 2022

China’s National Health Commission has clarified that only Covid-19 patients who die from respiratory failure will be counted towards the official death toll after this week reporting the first deaths since the easing of pandemic controls.

Many elderly had other chronic illnesses and very few people died directly from respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus, experts from the NHC said.

The clarification follows media reports that many more people had died after becoming infected and of rising demand at funeral homes and crematoriums.

The commission has issued a notice clarifying how it is calculating the death toll from the disease in what it calls a “scientific and realistic manner”. The new guidelines narrow the criteria for counting Covid deaths, removing cases such as patients who had a heart attack after becoming infected.

“Deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure resulting from Covid-19 will be classified as Covid deaths, while deaths caused by other underlying diseases, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, will not be counted as Covid-induced deaths,” Wang Guiqiang, an adviser to the NHC and director of the infectious diseases department at Peking University First Hospital, said on Tuesday.

China has seen cases skyrocket since it relaxed its zero-Covid policy, with the new rules allowing home quarantine for mild cases and encouraging residents to use rapid antigen test kits instead of PCR mass testing.

Health authorities stopped reporting asymptomatic cases last week and until this week had not reported any Covid-related deaths since December 4 – three days before the policy change was announced.