China's COVID case "explosion" not due to relaxed rules, WHO says, as 1st deaths reported since easing

China is facing its biggest public health challenge since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago. Nine days after the government abruptly abandoned its draconian "zero-COVID" policy, halting mandatory mass-testing and forcible quarantines, COVID-19 is once again spreading like wildfire across the vast country.

On Friday, local media outlets within China's tightly controlled press reported some of the first fatalities blamed on COVID since the restrictions were lifted. Two former Chinese state media journalists died in Beijing, on December 8 and 15, according to the outlets. Both were men in their 70s. Official government agencies have not yet confirmed the deaths were due to COVID — no coronavirus fatalities have been officially reported since the controversial zero-COVID policy was lifted. 

But the World Health Organization says the strict policy of the last three years had stopped working anyway.