Experts: How China reports Covid-19 deaths keeps total low

An ambulance passes a worker in protective gear outside a fever clinic in Beijing, Dec. 19, 2022. [AP Photo]

As Chinese social media circulated photos and videos showing crowded fever clinics and people lining up outside of hospitals, China's National Health Commission (NHC) reported no new COVID-related deaths on Wednesday and 3,101 new confirmed cases nationwide.

The day before, the NHC reported seven deaths in total over the first two days of recording all COVID deaths in the nation of 1.4 billion people.

A person working in a crematorium in Beijing who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation told VOA Mandarin on December 21 that the wait list for cremations is stretching into January.