China Sets Strict Definition for Death by COVID-19

A coffin is loaded from a hearse into a storage container at the Dongjiao crematorium and funeral home, one of several in the city that handles COVID-19 cases in Beijing, China on Dec. 18, 2022. Getty Images

The Chinese National Health Commission has set the standards for death by COVID-19, and analysts believe they could cut down the true counts of death by COVID-19 because they are so strict.

At a press conference on Dec. 20, Wang Guiqiang, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Peking University First Hospital, indicated that only “respiratory failure caused by COVID” will be counted as a COVID-19 death.