Corona numbers and deaths have been increasing in China since the end of the strict zero-Covid policy. According to official government figures, however, only 22 people have died from Corona since then. However, news of several celebrities who have died raises doubts about the statistics, the BBC reports.
One of the most prominent cases is the opera singer Chu Lanlan. The 40-year-old died unexpectedly in December. Her family did not provide any details about her death, reports the British broadcaster. However, one is saddened by her “abrupt demise”. Her death came as a shock to many Chinese.
The death of the popular Chinese actor Gong Jintang became known on New Year’s Day. The 83-year-old has played a main character on the country’s longest-running television series, In-Laws, Out-Laws, for 22 years.
Gong’s circumstances of death are unclear, the report said. However, many users on social media would associate his death with the large number of elderly people who have died recently.
“This wave really took a lot of lives. Let’s make sure we protect the elderly in our families,” a user reportedly wrote on the Chinese platform Weibo. A fellow actor is quoted as saying, “Please, God, treat the elderly better.”
Let’s make sure we protect the elderly in our families.
Users on the Chinese platform Weibo
Two other prominent Chinese have also recently died: screenwriter Ni Zhen died at the age of 84, reports the BBC. His most important work “The Red Lantern” is regarded by many critics as the best Chinese film. The former journalist and professor Hu Fuming died on January 2nd. He was 87 years old.
According to the BCC, there was also a high number of deaths among scientists from the country’s most important science and engineering academies. A total of 16 people died between December 21 and 26. None of these deaths were linked to Corona, it said.
In an interview with state television, the director of the Beijing Institute of Respiratory Diseases conceded that the number of deaths among the elderly this winter is “definitely higher” than in previous years, the BBC writes.
However, he also emphasized that the critical cases represented only a minority of the total Covid cases. According to estimates by London-based data processor Airfinity, 2.5 million people are currently newly infected in China every day, while 16,600 die every day. (Tsp with AFP)
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