China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has come under scrutiny for failing to release data on the variety of cremations that occurred within the country at the top of 2022. This omission has obscured an important indicator that would have make clear the impact of the wave of COVID-19 infections sweeping the nation during that point.

The exclusion of the national cremation figures from recent data reports highlighted the dearth of comprehensive information on fatalities during China’s mass COVID-19 outbreak, which began after the abrupt lifting of stringent pandemic controls, in line with CNN.

Over the past decade, the ministry’s quarterly reports consistently included the annual variety of cremations within the fourth quarter data. Nonetheless, the absence of this data now points to the dearth of transparency surrounding the true variety of COVID-19-related deaths during that period.

Experts imagine that China’s official death toll significantly underestimated the actual variety of virus-related fatalities. The federal government’s claim of a “major and decisive victory” over the pandemic has been met with skepticism, because the outbreak overwhelmed crematoriums, strained hospitals and exposed shortcomings within the country’s pandemic response.

Cremation data plays an important role in determining excess deaths and providing more accurate information on the toll of the virus. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health on the Council on Foreign Relations, noted that comparing the variety of cremations during this era with previous years could have allowed researchers to estimate excess deaths attributable to COVID-19.

The absence of this data suggested that the variety of excess deaths could also be significant, in line with Huang.

When approached for comment, the Ministry of Civil Affairs didn’t reply to CNN’s request.

Throughout the pandemic, China faced criticism regarding its data transparency, including the way it counts COVID-19 deaths. The country’s initial narrow definition of COVID-19 deaths raised concerns of underrepresentation.

Although China revised its criteria later, the figures still only included individuals who tested positive for the virus and died in hospitals, excluding deaths at home or in certain lower-level health facilities.

The exclusion of cremation data and the broader issue of knowledge transparency raised doubts about China’s official narrative regarding the success of its COVID-19 response amid speculations in regards to the virus’ origins.

The shortage of accurate information doesn’t bode well for future releases of important data. China’s credibility has been questioned previously, and the omission of crucial data adds to concerns surrounding the country’s handling of the pandemic.

It stays uncertain whether China plans to release the national cremation data at a later date.

Published by Medicaldaily.com