Covid-19 pandemic: China reports more than 12,600 deaths in a week

China said more than 12,600 people died of Covid-related causes in the week leading up to the Lunar New Year holidays, with a health official saying about 80 per cent of the population was infected with the virus in the current outbreak.
 
There were 12,658 Covid-linked deaths at hospitals between January 13-19, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement dated Saturday.
 
The country reported 59,938 such deaths between December 8 and January 12.
 
The center’s chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou said separately in a Weibo post that 80 per cent of the country’s