China's official COVID death counts raise doubts amid virus surge

China's official COVID-19 death counts have raised doubts amid an apparent surge of infections in major cities, with only two deaths reported since the government significantly eased its tight restrictions earlier this month despite long queues of vehicles forming at cremation sites.After health authorities reported two deaths on Dec. 3, four days before the stringent "zero-COVID" policy was drastically eased Dec. 7, the daily COVID death count had remained at zero until Sunday saw two new deaths.The data did not reflect several local media reports of high-profile figures dying after contra…READ FULL ARTICLE