Beijing reports first Covid-19 deaths as China eases curbs, crematoriums run 24X7

Beijing: Two former Chinese state media journalists have died in capital city Beijing recently due to Covid-19, local media reported on Friday, among the first reported deaths since most epidemic control measures were lifted on December 7.

Yang Lianghua, a former People’s Daily reporter, died on December 15, aged 74, while Zhou Zhichun, a former China Youth Daily editor, died on December 8, aged 77, according to financial magazine Caixin.

China’s national health authority has not reported any official Covid-19 deaths since withdrawing many of its domestic restrictions on December 7. The last official deaths were reported on December 3, in Shandong and Sichuan provinces.

Amid protests, a rare move in authoritarian China, the country had eased stringent Covid-19 restrictions permitting home quarantine for many and scrapping the Covid-19 test rule for public places.

The withdrawal of curbs provided relief to the Chinese people, who had been suffering due to crippling control measures since 2019, for a period of nearly three years.

China’s well known ‘Zero Covid’ policy had led to widespread protests by people across the country and had also led to global criticism.

Anti-establishment slogans were raised during demonstrations in the provinces of Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Beijing and several other cities of China. Anti-government banners were seen despite a strict watch, in a rare show of public defiance of the Xi government’s policies.

Demonstrators held up blank banners — to evade arrest and minimize risk — and chanted slogans such as ‘Down with Communist Party!’ and ‘Down with Xi Jinping!’, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

On Friday, two Beijing funeral homes confirmed they are operating 24 hours a day and offering same-day cremation services to keep up with a recent surge in demand, despite official data registering no new Covid-19 deaths since December 4.

“We’re being worked to the bone! Over 10 of our 60 staff are positive (for Covid-19) but we have no choice, it’s been so busy lately,” one crematorium staffer said.

“We are cremating 20 bodies a day, mostly old people. A lot of people have been getting sick recently.”

Another Beijing crematorium informed that there was a week-long waiting list for a spot, all indicating that despite the government’s tall claims of no deaths, Covid-19 fatalities are occurring throughout the country.

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