As China battles an unprecedented COVID surge, nearly 90% of Henan — the third-most populous province — has been infected with the virus, a senior health official said Monday.
Kan Quancheng, director of the Health Commission for Central Henan Province, said the infection rate was 89% as of Jan. 6.
As Henan’s population is about 99.4 million, the data suggests that 88.5 million residents have tested positive for COVID.
Visits to fever clinics peaked on December 19 — just weeks after China began relaxing its brutal “zero-COVID” policy.
After that spike late last month, the number of COVID cases “showed a continuous downward trend,” Kan said during a news conference on Monday.
The data from Henan differs greatly from the COVID numbers China’s central government has released since early December. According to officials, only 120,000 out of 1.4 billion people have been infected and only 30 have died since the end of “zero-COVID”.
Data suggests 88.5 million residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Chinatopix via AP
After three years, China’s borders reopened on Sunday, marking an official end to the country’s “zero-COVID” policy, which has seen incoming travelers quarantined.
But even if Beijing drops its quarantine requirements, many countries around the world are requiring visitors from China to test negative in hopes it will stem the outbreak overwhelming China’s hospitals and funeral homes.
COVID cases are expected to rise, especially as China plans to celebrate the Lunar New Year later this month, when millions of residents are expected to leave cities and visit families in more rural areas.
With mail wires