There were almost 2 million excess deaths in the two months after China lifted its “zero-Covid” restrictions, a U.S. study found, contradicting official figures from Beijing that have been criticized as too low.

Researchers estimate there were 1.87 million excess deaths from all causes among people 30 years and older from December 2022 to January, according to the study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle published Thursday. The deaths, which were observed across all mainland Chinese provinces, except Tibet, were predominantly among older people.