China's bid to avoid Wuhan COVID-19 spread chop deaths elsewhere from other notable causes: Study
24 February, 2021
The number of deaths in China - excluding the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan - fell slightly through the first 90 days of 2020, suggesting efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 reduced deaths from other causes, a fresh study showed.
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Avoidance (CDC), analysed official death registry info from Jan 1 to Mar 31 this past year for changes in total and cause-specific deaths.
The death count in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus that triggers COVID-19 was first identified, stood at 1,147 per 100,000 over the time, 56 per cent higher than normally expected, they found in the analysis published on Wednesday.
However, outdoors Wuhan, the death count was 675 per 100,000, less than the anticipated rate of 715, after nationwide lockdowns lowered the amount of deaths from other notable causes like regular pneumonia or traffic mishaps, in line with the study, published by the BMJ.
Official data from China's medical authority puts the full total mainland COVID-19 death toll at 4,636, which 83.5 %, or 3,869 deaths, were in Wuhan.
China has rejected statements that it under-reported both total number of conditions and the loss of life toll from COVID-19.
An American research of cremation services in Wuhan released last June said about 36,000 persons could have died, 10 occasions the official figure.
Local studies also show the number of individuals carrying the virus might have been far higher than first thought.
The China CDC said in December that it found COVID-19 antibodies in 4.43 per cent of Wuhan blood samples, implying that half of a million people have been infected.
Last month, professionals deployed by the World Health Business arrived in Wuhan to research the origins of the coronavirus. They explained it could have already been circulating in various other regions before it had been first identified in early 2020, but there is no evidence of other large outbreaks.
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