SHANGHAI (CHINA) – The number of deaths in China, excluding the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan, came down slightly during the first three months of 2020, according to a new study. It suggested efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 reduced deaths due to other causes.
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluated official death registry data from January 1 to March 31 last year, over changes in overall and cause-specific deaths.
The death rate in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first spotted, stood at 1,147 per 100,000 over the period, marking 56% higher rate than expected, which was found in the study published on Wednesday by BMJ, the journal of the British Medical Association.
That said, outside Wuhan the death rate was 675 per 100,000, which was less than the expected rate of 715, after lockdowns brought down deaths from other causes such as ordinary pneumonia or traffic accidents, the study showed.
Zhengming Chen, professor in epidemiology at Oxford and one of the study’s authors, said, “It would appear that the lockdown and associated behavioural changes – such as wearing facemasks, increased hygiene, social distancing and restricted travel – actually had unintended health benefits beyond those of reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2.”
It also appears to have had an impact, which lasts for a while. Official data showed there were 542,172 recorded cases of infectious disease in December 2020, down from 1.7 million a year earlier. It was reported that deaths came down to 2,379 from 2,636 in December 2019.
The study showed there were around 6,000 additional deaths in Wuhan over the Jan-March 2020 period, which includes 4,573 caused by pneumonia, most of which were related to COVID.
It said that the 1,400 additional non-COVID deaths were probably a consequence of difficulties in getting access to hospital care.
China’s official mainland COVID-19 death toll remains at 4,636, of which 83.5%, or 3,869 deaths, were in Wuhan. COVID-19 deaths in the United States rose above 500,000 this week.
Beijing has been dismissing claims that it downplayed the total number of cases and the death toll from COVID-19 as well.