As many as 9,000 people in China are probably dying every day from COVID-19, UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on Thursday.
The assessment comes as infections flared in the world’s most populous country.
COVID-19 infections began spreading across China in November, picking up pace this month after Beijing “dismantled” its zero-COVID policies, including regular PCR testing of its population and the release of data on asymptomatic cases.
Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 are likely to have reached 100,000 with infections reaching 18.6 million, Airfinity said in a statement.
The data firm says it uses modeling based on data from Chinese provinces before recent changes to reporting cases were implemented.
Airfinity expects COVID-19 infections in China to reach their first peak on January 13 at 3.7 million cases per day.
In addition, Airfinity expects deaths to peak on January 23 at around 25,000 per day, with cumulative deaths reaching 584,000 since December.
Since China made a sudden U-turn on its policy on December 7, authorities have reported 10 deaths from COVID-19.
