The China Center for Disease Control (CDC) said Monday that the wave of Covid-19 cases in the country “did not register a significant increase” during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended on Saturday.
“The current wave in China is coming to an end,” the CDC said in the latest issue of the weekly magazine. The agency explained that “no new variants” of the coronavirus were found and the peak of the current wave “was reached at the end of last December.”
Until the end of January “the number of new daily cases dropped” and “hospital pressure was reduced,” said the same source.
The daily number of hospital deaths from the disease peaked on Jan. 4, when 4,273 people died, according to the CDC.
Faced with popular discontent and the drop in economic data, the Chinese authorities opted for an accelerated dismantling of the ‘Covid zero’ strategy, which had been in force in the country for almost three years and included the isolation of all positive cases and close contacts, blocking all cities for weeks or months, constant mass testing and border closures.
The sudden withdrawal of restrictions, in early December, without mitigation strategies, led to a wave of infections that flooded the country’s hospital system and crematoriums.
The CDC noted that the peak of patients in serious condition was recorded on January 5, when it reached 128,000.
The number of hospital visits for fever “has decreased by more than 90%” since the end of December, he added.
Chinese experts warned of a possible spread of the virus during the Lunar New Year festivities, between the 21st and 27th of this month. During this period, hundreds of millions of Chinese returned to their home countries.
Health authorities urged rural areas to prepare for the spread of the virus at the local level, where health care resources are scarce.
British health data analysis company Airfinity estimated that the number of daily deaths during that period would have been around 36,000 per day.
According to official data, 6,364 people died in hospitals from the disease between January 20 and 26.
Source: TSF
