China has reportedly suffered nearly 60,000 COVID-19-related deaths since easing restrictions in response to public uprising in December 2022.

After the country relaxed its strict zero-COVID policy, flights to China resumed as the nation reopened its borders, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.

The CDC had previously announced on December 28 that passengers arriving in the United States from China would be required to have a negative COVID-19 test or documentation of recovery before entering the nation.

The new death toll included 5,503 deaths from respiratory failure caused by the virus and 54,435 fatalities from afflictions in combination with COVID-19 since December 8.

These numbers may even underestimate the total death toll.

These recorded fatalities only include deaths occurring in hospitals, meaning deaths occurring in homes would not be counted, according to AP News.

Jiao Yahui, head of the National Health Commission’s medical administration bureau, said in a press conference that China had been counting deaths with a positive COVID-19 nucleic acid test as COVID-19-related fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Chinese media.

“Winter is also the peak season for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases among the elderly. With the spread of the COVID-19 disease, the number of elderly deaths is relatively large, and we are attaching greater significance to protecting elderly patients and saving their lives,” said Yahui.

The World Health Organization released a statement on January 14 saying that the surge in infections and pressure on health services experienced by China is similar to waves experienced by other countries.

“While the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has earlier reported that Omicron sublineages BA.5.2 and BF.7 are currently circulating, WHO continues to ask that further sequences be shared with open access databases such as GISAID for deeper phylogenetic analyses, and for continued collaboration with technical groups working on virus evolution, clinical care, and beyond,” said the WHO in the statement.