Nearly 90% of residents in Henan, one of China’s most populous provinces, have been infected with Covid-19, an official with the regional health authority said on Monday, as the country grapples with an unprecedented surge in positive cases.
After three years of some of the world’s most draconian restrictions, China last month abruptly lifted most of its coronavirus health measures.
The number of patients has grown exponentially, while the health system is overwhelmed with elderly patients and crematoria seem overwhelmed by the influx of corpses.
88.5 million people
In Henan (centre), China’s third most populous province, 89% of the population had been infected with covid as of January 6, said Kan Quancheng, an official with the local health authority.
Based on this percentage, some 88.5 million people would have already contracted Covid, out of the almost 100 million inhabitants of the province.
The number of medical visits for fever peaked on Dec. 19 and has been steadily declining in Henan since then, the official told reporters.
Figures that do not reflect the situation
Authorities expect a new wave of pollution during the Lunar New Year (January 22 this year), when millions of Chinese from cities will have returned to rural areas to reunite with their families.
As the celebrations approached, more than 34 million trips had been recorded on the first day of China’s biggest migration of the year by Saturday, according to official figures.
China, which has 1.4 billion inhabitants, has registered only 30 deaths from Covid since the lifting of health restrictions in December, despite an unprecedented wave of contamination in the country. Figures that do not reflect the situation of many experts and the World Health Organization (WHO).
China revised its criteria for counting Covid victims in December. Now only people who died directly from coronavirus-related respiratory failure are included in the statistics.
Source: BFM TV
