January 13, 2023
Credit, EPA
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Covid cases are expected to increase during the Lunar New Year in China
About 900 million people in China are infected with the corona virus. The figures come from a study by Peking University and reflect the situation of Covid19 in the country on Wednesday of this week (01/11).
The report estimates that 64% of the country’s population is infected with the virus.
Gansu province tops the rankings with 91% of the infected population, followed by Yunnan (84%) and Qinghai (80%).
A top Chinese epidemiologist has warned that cases will surge in the countryside during the Lunar New Year.
The peak of the Covid wave in China is expected to last two to three months, according to Zeng Guang, former head of the China Center for Disease Control.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese will travel to their hometowns ahead of the Lunar New Year celebrations on Jan. 23 many for the first time since the pandemic began.
China does not provide daily statistics on Covid.
But hospitals in big cities where healthcare facilities are better and more accessible have been overwhelmed by Covid patients during the latest outbreak.
Zeng said it was “Time to focus [os esforços das autoridades] in rural areas,” according to the Caixin news agency.
Many elderly, sick and disabled people in rural areas do not have access to treatment.
China’s central Henan province is the only one to have provided details on infection rates earlier this month a health official said almost 90% of the population had contracted Covid, with similar rates in both urban and rural areas.
But local government officials say many provinces and cities are already past the peak of infections.
China’s Lunar New Year, which officially begins on January 21, brings with it the world’s largest annual migration of people.
A total of around two billion trips are expected. Ten million people traveled.
Last month, China abruptly abandoned its zerotolerance policy towards Covid. The country reopened its borders on Sunday (8 January).
Official data recorded five or fewer deaths a day for the past month but those numbers don’t match the long lines outside funeral homes and reports of deaths on social media.
In December, Chinese officials announced that they intend to issue monthly updates on the country’s Covid situation instead of daily.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said China, which has not reported any deaths from Covid since Tuesday (1/10), is severely underreporting deaths.
In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin reiterated at a press conference on Thursday (12 January) that Beijing has shared COVID data “timely, openly and transparently in accordance with the law” after holding technical exchanges with the WHO have led in recent months.
International health experts predict China will have at least 1 million Covidrelated deaths this year. Officially, Beijing has recorded just over 5,000 deaths since the pandemic began, one of the lowest death rates in the world.