WHO urges China to release more COVID-19 information after Beijing reports 60,000 coronavirus-related deaths

The World Health Organization is urging China to keep releasing COVID-19 data after Beijing on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 coronavirus-related deaths since Dec.

8.  Beijing’s announcement was the first official death toll since the ruling Communist Party abruptly dropped antivirus restrictions in December despite a surge in

infections that flooded hospitals. That left the WHO and other governments appealing for information, while the United States, South Korea and other countries imposed controls on

Chinese visitors.  Previously the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention had only reported 36 deaths from Dec. 7 and Jan. 8, according to the Washington

Post.  In the revised death toll, Beijing said 5,503 people died of respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 and there were 54,435 fatalities from cancer, heart disease and

other ailments combined with COVID-19 between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12. OMICRON SUBVARIANT XBB.1.5 POSSIBLY MORE LIKELY TO INFECT THOSE WHO ARE VACCINATED, OFFICIALS SAY The

latest figures marked a significant increase from the previous dubiously-low death total of 10,775 since the disease was first discovered in Wuhan in 2019.  READ ON THE FOX

NEWS APP The WHO said Beijing’s announcement on Saturday "allows for a better understanding of the epidemiological situation." It said the WHO director-general,

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, talked by phone with Health Minister Ma Xiaowei. "WHO requested that this type of detailed information continued to be shared with us and the

public," the agency said.