Chinese government figures showing the absence of more than 150,000 elderly people from the list of those given state subsidy payments in the first quarter of 2020 could point to a far greater COVID-19-linked death toll than previously reported in the country, analysts told RFA.

Data released by the civil affairs department in the central province of Hubei, where the Hubei first emerged in December 2019, showed that around 150,000 names had “disappeared” from the list of recipients in the first three months of 2020, as COVID-19 tore through the provincial capital Wuhan and surrounding areas, sparking a provincial lockdown.

The subsidy is a payment handed out to people over 80 across the province who are experiencing financial hardship.

Full Story: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/doubts-02172021092531.html