China fails to release cremation data from late 2022, when its COVID-19 outbreak raged

China has failed to release data on how many cremations took place in the country at the end of 2022 – obscuring a key indicator that could have shed light on the impact of the wave of Covid-19 infections that were sweeping the country at that time. The national number of cremations was omitted from recent data from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, which tracks a range of social indicators in quarterly reports. A review of the past 10 years of ministry data shows the annual figure of cremations was consistently included in the fourth quarter data report – until now.