China is likely seeing over a million COVID cases and 5,000 deaths a day, report says. But Beijing's official data is showing 7 deaths so far this week.

In contrast to Beijing's official count of just seven deaths in the past week, more than 5,000 people are likely to die from COVID-19 in China every day.

China is likely to see over 1 million COVID cases a day, in a stark contrast to official figures, according to a press release on Wednesday.

Just as China saw a surge in COVID-19 cases, the estimates were released.

According to the National Health Commission, there were no deaths in China on Thursday. There have been just seven deaths in the country so far this week, despite anecdotal reports of larger infections and deaths.

According to the Associated Press and Financial Times, cremations and funeral homes in Beijing and Shanghai have seen a rise in the number of people who have died from carbon dioxide. The Beijing crematorium had a line of about 40 hearses outside.

Mass testing has stopped in China. According to the press release, the official data is unlikely to be a true reflection of the outbreak being experienced across the country.

The way Beijing records COVID-19 deaths has been changed so that only those who die from pneumonia and respiratory failure will be included. According to an official transcript, Wang Guiqiang, head of the infectious disease department at Peking University First Hospital, stated at a government press conference on Tuesday that those who die from other underlying health conditions that worsened due to the virus are not considered COVID deaths.

Other countries that record deaths within a time frame of a positive test or where COVID-19 is recorded to have attributed to the cause of death are different. The change could affect the amount of deaths in China.

The World Health Organization expressed concern about the situation in China, but said it didn't think the country was hiding cases.

According to WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan, anecdotally, the number of cases in intensive care units in China is filling up. I don't want to say that China isn't telling us what they're doing. They are behind the curve.

The situation is likely to get worse in the near future.

There are two upcoming peaks in China, one in January and the other in March. This coincides with the Chinese New Year season, when travel usually spikes as people travel to and from their hometowns for the official week-long holidays.