Witnesses Recount Large Surge of COVID-19 Deaths in Their Hometowns Across China Last December

Family members of the deceased line up for the cremation procedures at a funeral home in Shanghai, China on Jan. 4, 2023. People were informed by the crematorium that they had to wait for at least a month to claim the ashes. Wang Gang/ Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Several Chinese immigrants who recently arrived in the United States can now describe what they witnessed last December when a severe wave of the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in China.

The sudden lifting of the stringent lockdowns on Dec. 7 is believed to have prompted a nationwide infection of COVID from the end of last year to the first quarter of this year due to a lack of preparedness, medical resources, and, most importantly, necessary information to the public.