Local experts estimate that a total of 600 million people will have been infected with Covid-19 in China in the past month, after the country ended its ‘zero cases’ policy.
That number is equivalent to 40% of the population of the Asian country, which is the most populous in the world.
Quoted by the local press, epidemiologist Zeng Guang, a member of the High Level Expert Panel of the Asian country’s National Health Commission, considered this estimate “reasonable”, since most Chinese cities reported that at least 50 % of its population tested positive. by the virus in recent weeks.
Zeng admitted that the speed of transmission of the virus in China was faster than expected, with 80% of the population of Beijing infected within a month. In Shanghai, China’s economic “capital,” that figure is around 70%, he said.
The two main cities in China have more than 20 million inhabitants.
The official added that by December 29, more than 600 million people in the country will have been infected.
Early last month, China abolished the Covid-19 ‘zero cases’ strategy, which had been in place in the country for almost three years, resulting in a rapid spread of the virus, given the lack of natural immunity in the population. . .
As China stopped meaningfully tracking the development of outbreaks in the country, official data became decoupled from reality on the ground. Images of overcrowded crematoriums and emergency services suggest, however, that the country is in the throes of a serious public health crisis.
Chinese experts estimated that China currently has about five million patients in serious condition. The British company Airfinity, which analyzes data from the health sector, said that China currently suffers about 9,000 deaths a day from the disease.
Cao Yunlong, a biochemist and assistant professor at Peking University, said the lethality of different strains of the Omicron variant has been underestimated in China. He noted that although Omicron’s BA.1 strain was milder than the Delta variant, the BA.5 version, which is the most prolific in China, has regained pathogenicity.
Liang Wannian, a Chinese epidemiologist and former leader of the National Health Commission’s team tasked with fighting the coronavirus, found it very difficult to estimate the death rate from the current outbreaks, which continue to spread rapidly. Liang said that only at the end will it be possible to get a more accurate number.
An internal document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 248 million people were infected with the coronavirus between December 1 and December 20.
Zhang Wenhong, head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, said about 80% of China’s 1.4 billion people will be infected by Jan. 22, the first day of Lunar New Year, the main holiday of Chinese families.
Source: TSF
