Despite China's lack of new Covid fatalities, there is a line of hearses at the Beijing cremation.

 As Beijing prepared for a spike in serious cases, dozens of hearses formed a line outside a crematorium on Wednesday, despite China reporting no new Covid-19 deaths in its expanding outbreak. This prompted criticism of China's virus accounting.

The 1.4 billion-person nation this month started dismantling its "zero-Covid" regime of lockdowns and testing, which had mostly kept the virus at bay for three years — at huge economic and psychological costs. This was done in response to widespread complaints.

The rapid change in policy caught the nation's flimsy healthcare system off guard, causing hospitals to scramble for beds and blood, pharmacies to scramble for medications, and officials to race to create specialized clinics.

According to experts, China could have more than a million Covid deaths in the upcoming year.

A Reuters witness on Wednesday observed a line of about 40 hearses waiting to enter a cremation in Beijing's Tongzhou area while the parking lot was full.

Around 20 coffins that were awaiting cremation were surrounded by relatives and friends inside, many of them were dressed in white and sporting headbands as is customary. Staff members wore hazardous suits. From five of the fifteen furnaces, smoke ascended.

Outside the crematorium, there were numerous police officers present.

Reuters was unable to confirm whether Covid was to blame for the deaths.

China adopts a strict definition of Covid deaths, reporting no new fatalities for Tuesday and even removing one from its total since the pandemic started, which is currently equal to 5,241 – a small fraction of what many less populous countries suffered.

According to the National Health Commission (NHC), Covid deaths are solely those that result from pneumonia and respiratory failure after catching the virus.

That classification would overlook "a lot of cases," according to Benjamin Mazer, an assistant professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University, especially given that those who are immunized, even with the Chinese jabs, are less likely to die of pneumonia.

Numerous deaths among Covid patients have been attributed to blood clots, cardiac issues, and sepsis, a severe case of infection-related illness.

When we know that there are numerous medical consequences in the post-vaccine period, Mazer said, "it doesn't make sense to apply this type of March 2020 thinking where it's only Covid pneumonia that can kill you.

imminent surge

On December 19, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Beijing, China, people queue up at a temporary fever clinic set up inside a stadium. — Reuters

According to a top Chinese respiratory expert quoted by the state-run Global Times, a surge in severe cases in Beijing over the next few weeks will likely result in a substantial increase in the death toll.

A respiratory specialist from Peking University First Hospital named Wang Guangfa told the newspaper, "We must respond immediately and establish fever clinics, emergency, and severe treatment resources."

Tuesday saw a 53 percent surge in severe cases across China compared to a 23 percent increase the day before. China doesn't give precise numbers for serious instances.

The Covid wave is anticipated to peak in late January, with life likely returning to normal by the end of February or the beginning of March.

The NHC also downplayed worries about the virus's ability to mutate that were expressed by the US and other epidemiologists, claiming there was little chance that new, more deadly strains would emerge.

The Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection's president, Paul Tambyah, backed up the assertion.

I don't think this poses a threat to the entire planet, he declared. The virus is likely to act similarly to every other human virus and adjust to the environment in which it spreads by becoming more communicable and less virulent.

It may be too soon to declare the end of the worldwide Covid pandemic emergency phase, according to several eminent scientists and World Health Organization consultants, who told Reuters that a potentially disastrous wave is about to hit China.

monetary impact

Tuesday, the United States made it clear it is prepared to help China deal with its outbreak and issued a warning that an unchecked spread in the second-largest economy in the world might harm global growth.

The effect that a spike in infections might have on manufacturing output and logistics as employees and truck drivers get sick is a big issue for economists in the near future.

The rapid easing of Covid controls was one of several reasons given by the World Bank on Tuesday when it lowered its GDP projection for China for this year and the following year.

Some municipal administrations keep relaxing the laws.

Mild Covid symptoms are OK for employees at Communist Party and government organizations or firms in Chongqing, according to the state-run China Daily. However, they must wear a mask.