While the Chinese government claims to have the new corona wave under control, experts doubt the low number of Covid 19 deaths. Now, satellite images are revealing increased activity at crematoria and funeral homes in China.
In China, a corona wave of enormous proportions is rolling through the country. The Chinese government claims that the corona outbreak is under control.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the official Chinese data is well below the current number of Covid hospitalizations and deaths.
The Chinese government has publicly reported fewer than 40 Covid-related deaths since December 7. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the official number of corona deaths in China has been around 5,270.
International experts assume that the actual value takes on completely different dimensions. In the coming months, the number of corona deaths could reach a million or more, reports “NBC News”.
In fact, China’s social media coverage is increasingly being questioned. Especially after the recent deaths of prominent artists or scientists.
And satellite images taken by the space company Maxar over several cities in China also fuel doubts about China’s official corona data.
The photos are available to NBC News. Crematoria and funeral homes are currently particularly active. The footage shows that a new parking lot has been built in front of a funeral home in Beijing’s Tongzhou district since early December.
And according to the broadcaster’s report, another detail catches the eye. In the cities of Kunming, Chengdu, Tangshan and Huzhou, queues with waiting cars can be seen again and again in front of funeral homes.
Compared to previous years, a larger number of cars can be observed in front of funeral homes in many cities. Construction equipment is said to have been seen at the funeral home in Tongzhou.
And according to “NBC News”, coffins were also unloaded from delivery vans suspiciously often at a funeral home in the municipality of Dongjiao. The police patrolled both places.
According to the report, the crematoria are in operation around the clock in many places. Apparently there is a long wait. According to a funeral home, “NBC News” reported that the waiting time for a burial place could be up to two weeks.
A report by the Washington Post also shows how serious the situation is in many companies. A worker at a funeral home in Chongquing told the newspaper, “I’ve been working here for six years and it’s never been this crowded.”
There are obviously limitations in other areas. NBC News reporters observed families having to hold funeral services in hospitals because funeral homes no longer allow them.
Chinese officials, however, dismiss criticism of the observations, saying the real number of deaths will only become clearer after analyzing the “excessive deaths”.
China defines corona deaths much more narrowly than the WHO recommends: In China, only those who died of pneumonia or respiratory failure after being infected with the virus are counted as corona deaths.
And this despite the fact that Covid-19 can also affect other organs. As a result, there is also criticism of the definition that China uses as a basis for recording corona deaths.
Due to the lack of data on the outbreak of the corona wave in China, the United States and other countries have imposed restrictions on travelers from China in recent weeks – Beijing described this as discriminatory and unscientific.
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