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China Reports Almost 60,000 COVID-related Deaths

People wear protective face shields enter the Beijing Railway Station as the annual Spring Festival travel rush starts, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 7, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
People wear protective face shields enter the Beijing Railway Station as the annual Spring Festival travel rush starts, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 7, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
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China Reports Almost 60,000 COVID-related Deaths

People wear protective face shields enter the Beijing Railway Station as the annual Spring Festival travel rush starts, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 7, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
People wear protective face shields enter the Beijing Railway Station as the annual Spring Festival travel rush starts, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China January 7, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had COVID-19 since early December following complaints the government was failing to release data about the status of the pandemic.

The death toll included 5,503 deaths due to respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus and 54,435 fatalities from other ailments combined with COVID-19. The National Health Commission said those deaths occurred in hospitals, which left open the possibility more people also might have died at home.

The report would more than double China’s official COVID-19 death toll to 10,775. The official toll stood at 5,272 on Jan. 8.

The Chinese government stopped reporting data on COVID-19 infections and deaths in early December after abruptly lifting anti-virus controls. The World Health Organization and other governments appealed to Beijing for more information amid a surge in infections.

Wen Daxiang, a Shanghai Health Commission official, said China would strengthen health monitoring and management of the high-risk population.

He added that China would bolster the supply of drugs and medical equipment, and beef up training of grassroots medical workers to combat COVID in rural regions.

Meanwhile, people in China are resuming travel ahead of the Lunar New Year, despite worries about infections.

The rapid business recovery is challenging airlines' ability to ensure safety, and great attention to pandemic-related risks is needed, said Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The industry needs to "fully understand the special nature, and complexity of the Spring Festival migration in 2023", Song said in a statement on Friday.

Since the Jan. 7 start of the annual migration, as Chinese return to their hometowns in preparation for the holiday set to begin on Jan. 21, flight passenger numbers stand at 63% of the 2019 figure before the pandemic, the aviation regulator said.

China re-opened its borders on Jan. 8 after having abruptly abandoned in December a strict anti-virus regime of frequent testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns that had fueled historic nationwide protests in late November.

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Russian Missile, Drone Attack Kills 2 People in Ukraine's Capital

A municipal worker clears the rubble from a balcony of a residential building, damaged after a Russian strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A municipal worker clears the rubble from a balcony of a residential building, damaged after a Russian strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
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Russian Missile, Drone Attack Kills 2 People in Ukraine's Capital

A municipal worker clears the rubble from a balcony of a residential building, damaged after a Russian strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A municipal worker clears the rubble from a balcony of a residential building, damaged after a Russian strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Russia launched a ballistic missile and a barrage of drones at Ukraine's capital before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least two people in apartment buildings, Ukrainian officials said.

Eight people were also wounded in the attack, including four children, the Kyiv City Military Administration said in a post on Telegram.
The attack came before Russia's planned unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War II, The Associated Press reported. The US has proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine has accepted, but the Kremlin has held out for ceasefire terms more to its liking.
The Kremlin said that the truce, ordered on “humanitarian grounds,” would start on Thursday and last through Saturday to mark the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expecting foreign dignitaries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to watch a military parade in Red Square during the 80th anniversary celebrations. Any Ukrainian attack, like Tuesday's drone barrage that forced all four international airports around Moscow to temporarily suspend flights, would be embarrassing for the Russian leader.
The Kremlin announced Tuesday that Putin will travel to China at the end of August and beginning of September. Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Moscow has drawn closer to China as Western countries sought to isolate Beijing diplomatically. Russia has become increasingly dependent economically on China because of Western sanctions.
At least one ballistic missile and 28 Russian drones were recorded in Kyiv's airspace, authorities said. Air defense forces shot down the missile and 11 drones.
A five-story residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district in the center of the capital was hit by drone debris, sparking a fire in several apartments where the victims were found, he said. Four people, including three children, were hospitalized, while others received treatment on site.
In the Sviatoshynskyi district, fire broke out across multiple upper-floor apartments of a nine-story building after drone debris impact, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration. Five people were rescued from the blaze, which spanned 100 square meters.
In Dniprovskyi district, the upper floors of a high-rise were partially destroyed by a drone strike, but no injuries were reported. In Solomianskyi, a ballistic missile was intercepted by air defense, with the warhead falling and damaging nonresidential infrastructure. One person was wounded in that strike.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the attack. Russian officials reported shooting down dozens of Ukrainian drones overnight, with local Gov. Alexander Bogomaz writing on social media that more than 140 airborne targets had been destroyed over Russia’s Bryansk region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that local air defenses had repelled an attack by nine drones close to the Russian capital.
Drone attacks were also reported over the Tula region, where officials reported five drone attacks, and the Yaroslavl region, where local leader Gov. Mikhail Evraev said three drones had been destroyed.
In the city of Saransk, 630 kilometers (390 miles) east of Moscow, officials announced Wednesday that kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities would close temporarily. The message came shortly after local Gov. Artem Zdunov warned residents about a potential drone threat over the city. Local officials also posted warnings on social media against sharing photos and videos that showed the fallout from drone strikes.