China reports 5 more deaths from COVID

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Tuesday said five more people died due to COVID-19 in the capital Beijing as infections spread.

National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement that while 2,722 new coronavirus cases were reported across the country on Monday, the five people who died were locally transmitted cases.

On Sunday, at least two deaths were reported in the capital.

The latest coronavirus-related deaths include two veteran Chinese journalists Yang Lianghua, 74 and Zhou Zhichun, 77.

China has reported a smaller number of deaths related to COVID-19 in comparison to other developed nations, mostly because of its strict ‘zero-COVID-19’ policy which has been rolled back recently after unprecedented protests.

With gradual opening and an increase in public engagement in the recent past, the number of virus cases has also shot up.

The world’s largest populated nation has reported 383,175 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,242 deaths, since the first cases were reported in December 2019.

Responding to questions about how the number of deaths was low in the country, Chinese health authorities today said fatalities caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure due to the virus are classified as COVID-19 deaths. “But deaths caused by underlying diseases are not classified as COVID-19 deaths,” they added.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies are working at full capacity to increase the medicine supply as the country shifts its focus from stopping the spread of COVID-19 to treating patients infected with the virus.

In self-ruled Taiwan, located south of the mainland across the Taiwan Strait, officials said the island nation is facing a “shortage of the painkiller Panadol.”

Amid a rise in the virus cases in China, Taiwanese drug makers are receiving bulk orders for the supply of Panadol, Central Epidemic Command Center chief Victor Wang said on Monday.