China says Covid-19 deaths down by nearly 80%

BEIJING – The number of daily Covid-19 deaths in China has fallen by nearly 80% since the start of the month, authorities have said, in a sign that the country’s unprecedented infection surge may have started to abate.

A wave of virus cases has washed over the world’s most populous nation since Beijing abruptly ended its zero-Covid-19 policy last month.

Beijing’s figures are believed to only represent a fraction of the true toll, given China’s narrow definition of a Covid-19 death and official estimates that swathes of the population have been infected.