China’s leadership has announced a “great and decisive victory” in the fight against the corona virus. After a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s Politburo on Friday, a statement said that since November, China’s handling of Covid-19 has experienced “a smooth transition” in a relatively short period of time. Practice has shown that the Central Committee was correct in its assessment of the pandemic situation, its decisions and strategic adjustments.
The session was chaired by State and Party leader Xi Jinping. More than 200 million infected people have used medical services, according to state media reports in the Politburo statement. Almost 800,000 serious cases were treated appropriately. The Covid 19 mortality rate remained “the lowest in the world”. However, no specific figures were given.
“China has created a miracle in human history,” praised the official Xinhua news agency. As the situation in China improves, the virus continues to spread and change around the world. At the same time, the Politburo called on the more than 1.4 billion inhabitants to be vigilant. All authorities should strengthen the health system and consolidate the “hard-won achievements”. The vaccination rate among older people must be improved.
However, there is no precise picture of the massive corona wave in China. At the beginning of December, the government abruptly abandoned its strict zero-Covid strategy with lockdowns, forced quarantines and mass tests. Health officials estimate that more than a billion people have been infected since then.
The total number of dead was not published, while crematoria barely kept up to cremate the victims. The propaganda also downplayed the extent. Officially, between the beginning of December and the beginning of February, only 83,150 deaths were reported in hospitals, where in China only a small proportion of people usually die anyway. According to reports, doctors were also instructed not to certify Covid-19 as the cause of death.
Independent foreign estimates meanwhile assume at least one million dead. Model calculations by the London-based data processor Airfinity even came up with 1.47 million deaths. According to a report by the “New York Times”, four different teams of experts estimate the number at 1.0 to 1.5 million.
