BEIJING, Dec 25 (AFP) - China will no longer publish daily figures for COVID-19 cases and deaths, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, ending a practice that began in early 2020.

Cities across China are struggling with surging virus cases, resulting in pharmacy shelves stripped bare and overflowing hospitals and crematoriums, after Beijing suddenly dismantled its zero-COVID regime earlier this month.

The decision to scrap the daily virus count comes amid concerns that the country’s blooming wave of infections is not being accurately reflected in official statistics.

Beijing last week admitted the scale of the outbreak has become “impossible” to track following the end of mandatory mass testing.

Last week, China also narrowed the criteria by which COVID-19 fatalities were counted – a move experts said would suppress the number of fatalities attributable to the virus.

The NHC did not offer an explanation for its decision to stop releasing daily COVID data.

“From today, we will no longer publish daily information on the epidemic,” the NHC said.

“The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] will publish information about the outbreak for reference and research purposes,” the NHC said, without specifying the type or frequency of information to be published.