Deadly spurt

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Deadly spurt

Monday, 16 January 2023 | Pioneer

Deadly spurt

China admits that almost 60,000 people died of Covid between December 8, 2022, and January 12

Everything about China is an approximation, and that includes economic data. Beijing’s statements and figures on the novel coronavirus are even vaguer. As per the data of the World Health Organization, which has been under China’s baleful influence, a few days back the total fatalities in the most populous nation in the world were below 34,000. China’s claim was that in the two-year period between April 21, 2000, and April 16, 2002, there were only six Covid deaths in the country. In this period, the rest of the world, including India, suffered from a severe Delta wave, killing millions of people. In our country alone, over 5.31 lakh people died, most fatalities happening in the second wave. No one knows for sure how true is China’s claim that it was able to control the coronavirus using the most ruthless form of coercion and surveillance. While the CCP excelled in suppression coercion, it didn’t in immunizing the citizenry. One reason was that its indigenous vaccines were far less effective than the ones used in other parts of the world, including India. Typically, in that period, Beijing tried to portray its supposed ‘success’ in containing the deadly virus as a triumph of communist totalitarianism over democracy. It also bragged about having supplied vaccines and protective gear to poor countries. “Judging from how this pandemic is being handled by different leaderships and [political] systems around the world, [we can] clearly see who has done better,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in early 2021 at the Central Party School in Beijing.

That was then. A few months later—just after he arrogated all powers to himself, placed his followers in important offices, and sidelined critics—he faced widespread protests against the harsh lockdowns that he had imposed on over a billion of his fellow citizens. Just when Xi thought that he was the most powerful man in the country, whose authority could not be questioned, the simmering discontent and pent-up anger spilled onto the streets. In a matter of days, his regime started looking less solid and strong than he wanted it to appear. It was forced to lift the restrictions which had practically enslaved people. The easing of restrictions has proved to be as sudden and devastating as their imposition was brutal. China had 59,938 Covid-related deaths between December 8, 2022, and January 12, Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of Medical Administration under the National Health Commission, told a press conference. The actual figure is reported to be higher, for the number Jiao figure refers to is about the fatalities at medical facilities. Earlier, Beijing had changed the methodology for categorising Covid deaths, counting only those who die specifically of respiratory failure caused by the virus. One hopes that the situation improves in China, but its Government has to stop lying.

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