Beijing/Hong Kong | China is mourning a growing number of public figures lost to COVID-19, from academics to opera singers, whose deaths have complicated the government’s efforts to minimise the scale of the unfolding outbreak sweeping across the country.

Since authorities last month scrapped most restrictions instituted to keep the virus at bay, the coronavirus has rampaged through China’s vulnerable population with unparalleled speed, leaving hospitals inundated with the sick and elderly and crematoria overwhelmed with demand.

Financial Times