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China Stops Releasing COVID-19 Case Counts as Infections Skyrocket

One province is reporting 1 million new cases daily.

China’s National Health Commission announced that it will cease publishing national daily COVID-19 case figures amid a surge of infections. Earlier this month, China loosened its stringent “zero-COVID” policy after mass protests.

The Guardian reported that although the country has narrowed its definition of a COVID death and reported fewer than 10 deaths in the past two weeks, a health data firm estimated that there are, in fact, 5,000 people dying of the virus daily.

“Relevant COVID information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research,” the NHC said in a statement, breaking a three-year precedent for reporting case and death counts.

The government of Zhejiang, a large industrial province near Shanghai, said on Sunday that the region of 65.4 million is experiencing 1 million new cases daily and anticipated that this number will double by the new year.