Official data from China offered a rare, but brief, glimpse of the true toll of Covid, indicating that nearly as many people may have died from the virus in a single province earlier this year as Beijing has said died in the mainland during the entire pandemic. The data was deleted from a provincial government website just days after it was published on Thursday. But epidemiologists who reviewed a cached version of the information said it was the latest indication that the country’s official tally is a vast undercount. The…
Tag: Deaths (Fatalities)
Restaurant Explosion Kills Dozens in China
A gas explosion that ripped through a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China killed at least 31 people, officials said on Thursday, hours after the blast had turned the restaurant into a charred ruin. The explosion hit the two-story restaurant in Yinchuan, the capital of the Ningxia region, at 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday, when it was busy with customers eating lamb kebabs and other dishes cooked on gas burners. Firefighters rushed to the scene, where thick smoke rose into the sky and shattered glass and debris covered the street. They put…
Deaths of Seniors in Hospital Fire Point to China’s Elder Care Shortfall
BEIJING — The hospital in southern Beijing advertised itself as specializing in vascular tumors, especially benign birthmarks that often appear in infants. But when a fire broke out there last month, killing at least 29 people, many of the victims had been there for another reason: They were older people with disabilities receiving nursing care, some of them staying at the private hospital for months or even years, even though it was not licensed as a provider of long-term elder care. The tragedy at Changfeng Hospital — the deadliest fire…
Death Toll in Beijing Hospital Fire Soars to 29
Chinese authorities said they have arrested a dozen people in connection with a hospital fire in Beijing that has claimed the lives of at least 29 victims, attributing the blaze to possible negligence after sparks from internal construction ignited flammable paint. At a news conference on Wednesday, officials said most of the deceased were patients at Changfeng Hospital when the fire erupted around midday Tuesday in the southwestern part of Beijing. A nurse, a medical worker and a relative of a patient also died in the fire. Another 21 people…
At least 21 Dead After Fire at Beijing Hospital
At least 21 people died after a fire erupted in a hospital in Beijing on Tuesday, forcing patients trapped inside to cram up against windows, awaiting rescue, while at least one jumped to a roof below to escape the flames and smoke. The fire appeared to be the deadliest in the Chinese capital in the past two decades. It broke out in an inpatient building of the Changfeng Hospital in the city’s south at just before 1 p.m., and firefighters had largely put out the flames within less than 40…
China Moves to Erase the Vestiges of ‘Zero Covid’ to Deter Dissent
This is how China’s ruling Communist Party wants people to remember how it handled the Covid-19 pandemic: It was a “miracle in human history.” Every measure the government imposed was rooted in science, supported by the masses — and, ultimately, “completely correct.” The party is waging an ambitious propaganda campaign to rewrite the public’s memory of “zero Covid,” a signature policy of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, that helped contain the virus for almost three years — but went to such extreme lengths that it smothered the economy and set off…
How Deadly Was China’s Covid Wave?
China’s official count 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW ESTIMATE HIGH ESTIMATE Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths China’s official count 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths After China relaxed the world’s most stringent Covid-19 restrictions in…
China’s Covid Tsunami Recedes, Bringing Relief, Grief and Anxiety
When China abruptly abandoned “zero Covid,” accelerating an onslaught of infections and deaths, many feared a prolonged tide rippling from cities into villages. Now, two months later, the worst seems to have passed, and the government is eager to shift attention to economic recovery. Doctors who were mobilized across China to treat a rush of Covid patients say in phone interviews that the number of patients they are now seeing has fallen. Towns and villages that had hunkered down under the surge of infections and funerals are stirring to life.…
Your Tuesday Briefing: California Mourns, as Death Toll Rises
The death toll rises in a mass shooting Another victim of the recent mass shooting in a thriving Chinese American suburb of Los Angeles died at a hospital yesterday, bringing the death toll to 11. Investigators continued to seek the gunman’s motive in the attack, which took place during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park. Here are updates. The victims of the massacre were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Officials have identified two victims, My Nhan and Lilan Li, and details about the others are still emerging.…
China’s Abrupt Reversal of ‘Zero Covid’
This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions. [MUSIC PLAYING] sabrina tavernise From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily.” For nearly three years, China had one of the lowest COVID death rates in the world thanks to its strict but effective policy of zero-COVID. Last month, the Chinese government suddenly abandoned it. Today my colleague Alexandra…