Chinese NHC announces decision to stop Covid daily updates

Beijing, Dec 26 (FN Agency) The Chinese National Health Commission announced on Sunday that it will no longer publish daily reports on the Covid-19 situation in the country amid a surge in coronavirus cases. “Starting today, the daily information on the epidemic situation will no longer be published,” the commission said in a statement. The commission added that this duty will be carried out by its Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but did not specify the frequency of updates.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday that the situation regarding the prevention and control of the COVID-19 situation in the country is under control. On Wednesday, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern with the rising number of severe cases of COVID-19 in China and urged Beijing to focus its efforts on vaccinating risk groups. Ghebreyesus added that in order to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation, the WHO needs more detailed information on the severity of the disease, and a number of hospitalizations in China. In November, China saw a record increase in local COVID-19 outbreaks. Due to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the authorities introduced partial lockdowns in some areas while also forcing their residents to undergo PCR testing on a daily basis.