An expert said COVID-19 patients who die of underlying diseases will not be counted as a COVID-19 death at a press conference on Tuesday.

Wang Guiqiang, director of the infectious disease department of Peking University First Hospital said the Omicron variant mostly infects the upper respiratory tract rather than causes pneumonia in the lower respiratory tract.

"From clinical practice, we see most COVID-19 infected patients died because of their underlying diseases rather than respiratory failure caused by the virus," said Wang.

The National Health Commission (NHC) has asked experts to discuss how to scientifically categorize and calculate COVID-19 cases, according to Wang. "The NHC announced that a death caused by coronavirus-induced pneumonia and respiratory failure will be categorized as a COVID-19 death."

He said the COVID-19 patients die of other underlying conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and stroke will be excluded from COVID-19 death.

China has optimized its measures against COVID-19 less a month ago as 90 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated and the COVID-19 variants evolved to being more contagious but less severe.

Wang warned that a considerable number of COVID-19 patients show many symptoms including fever, joint pain and sore throat, which significantly affect daily life and work.

He said people still need to do their best to take prevention measures and stay away from the virus. "The elderly with physical conditions need to take necessary precautions to avoid infection."

Wang urged the unvaccinated elderly to receive the COVID-19 shots for stronger protection.