Is China giving a complete picture of the toll of Covid? By the numbers, Shanghai has been held up as a shining star of how to save lives in a pandemic.
There were more than 400,000 infections, but only 17 people died according to government officials, who have pointed to the statistics as proof that the strict lockdowns and mass quarantines work as part of their Covid strategy.
But now these numbers are being called into question.
China typically classifies Covid deaths more narrowly than other countries do. For example, those with chronic illness who die from a Covid infection were labeled as dying under other conditions, not because of Covid.
A nearly three-week lockdown of Shanghai over the past several weeks has limited access to medicine and care for any other illness than Covid. There have been several recorded deaths of people who died after being denied care for their other illnesses because of the intense virus control.
It may never be clear how many stories there are of people dying due to being unable to access proper treatment. China does not release information on “excess deaths.” But a prominent Chinese physician recently estimated that nearly 1,000 more diabetes patients could die sooner than expected due to the lockdown, and urged authorities to take a more measured approach and response.
The mass outbreak in Shanghai has also revived overarching questions about the true toll of Covid in China. China has officially reported only about 5,000 deaths from Covid in two years.
Experts say that Beijing is unlikely to change its approach. Leader Xi Jinping has made the low death toll and low infection rates central to his administration. Some officials have been fired if even a few cases came up in their jurisdictions. Just last week, the leader said that prevention and control “cannot be relaxed.”
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