Covid-2019 - 2022-12-25

Headlines abound concerning China's decision to no longer publish daily Covid statistics. But the headlines, as usual, appear to be wildly misleading. In reality, the National Health Commission announced it would stop publishing new case data, but handed responsibility over to the Chinese CDC, which has already begun to publish data that we use in our daily report. All that said, the data has always been fake anyway. Isn't it rather astonishing that, all year, while reported cases have risen dramatically nationwide, there's been no growth at all in Wuhan, where it would be especially embarrassing (see page 3 of our daily report)? And since the first mega-lockdowns in Shanghai in the spring, none there either? Never fear. Premier Xi has called for "better hygiene" nationwide (presumably including Wuhan and Shanghai). It's all in "Recommended Reading."