China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Saturday that 3,278 hospital deaths in China between January 27 and February 2 of this year were attributable to COVID.

According to the CDC, 3,147 of them died from various conditions associated with the infection, and 131 of them passed away from respiratory failure brought on by the novel coronavirus infection.

According to CDC data, the most recent figure brings the total number of patients who have died in hospitals in China with COVID since December 8 to 82,238.

But some experts said that figure probably vastly undercounts the full impact, as it excludes those who die at home and because doctors have told Reuters that they have been discouraged from attributing deaths to COVID.

China abruptly ended its strict zero-COVID policy on Dec. 7 after three years, prompting a massive surge of infections across the world’s most populous country.

The CDC said last week that daily COVID-related deaths at hospitals have fallen by 79% since their peak of 4,273 on Jan. 4.