China reports first COVID deaths since December 3 as official count questioned

Monday’s two deaths were the first to be reported by China’s National Health Commission (NHC) since December 3

China reported its first COVID-related deaths in weeks on December 19 amid rising doubts over whether the official count was capturing the full toll of a disease that is ripping through cities after the government relaxed strict anti-virus controls.

Monday's two deaths were the first to be reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) since December 3, days before Beijing announced that it was lifting curbs which had largely kept the virus in check for three years but triggered widespread protests last month.

Though on Saturday, Reuters journalists witnessed hearses lined up outside a designated COVID-19 crematorium in Beijing and workers in hazmat suits carrying the dead inside the facility. Reuters could not immediately establish if the deaths were due to COVID-19.

A hashtag on the two reported COVID-19 deaths quickly became the top trending topic on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform on Monday.

"What is the point of incomplete statistics?" asked one user. "Isn't this cheating the public?," wrote another.

The NHC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The low number of deaths since curbs were lifted on December 7 is inconsistent with the experience of other countries after similar moves. Officially China has suffered just 5,237 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, including the latest two fatalities, a tiny fraction of its 1.4 billion population.