COVID-19 patients who die due to pre-existing diseases will not be counted as COVID deaths, an expert said Tuesday.

Wang Guiqiang, an epidemiologist at Peking University First Hospital, said the majority of deaths among COVID patients have been caused by underlying conditions rather than respiratory failure caused by the novel coronavirus.

Omicron-induced infections mainly concentrate at the upper respiratory tract, and the percentage of lower respiratory tract infections is rather low. The phenomenon is a result of increased inoculation and the milder nature of Omicron subvariants, he told a news conference in Beijing.

To "scientifically and truly" calculate the number of COVID deaths, the National Health Commission has organized a discussion by a panel of experts. They agreed that COVID deaths refer to those caused by coronavirus-induced pneumonia and respiratory failure, Wang said.

COVID patients who die of cardiovascular diseases, stroke and other underlying conditions will not be classified as COVID deaths, he added.