The Center for Disease Control of China (CDC) said on Thursday that the number of deaths and hospitalizations from Covid-19 continues a “downward trend” after peaking in the country in recent weeks.
The daily death toll in hospitals fell from a peak of 4,273 on Jan. 4 to 434 on Jan. 30, an 89.9% decline, the CDC said..
The number of hospitalizations due to the disease peaked at 1.6 million on Jan. 5, when it began to fall to 144 thousand recorded on Jan. 30, a drop of 91.1%, he added.
The number of people admitted to hospital with severe symptoms peaked at 128,000, also on January 5, before falling to 14,000 late last month.
The CDC also assured that “no new variants of the virus have been discovered.”
Chinese and international experts have warned that the Lunar New Year holidays, this year between January 21 and 27, could bring a new wave of infections and hospital pressure in rural areas, with scarce medical resources, due to the large number of displaced people.
UK health data analytics firm Airfinity predicted the country could record around 36,000 deaths a day during that holiday week.
The CDC recorded 6,364 deaths from covid-19 in hospitals between January 20 and 26.
Faced with growing popular discontent and declining economic figures, Chinese authorities opted for an accelerated dismantling of the country’s ‘zero covid’ strategy, which had been in place for nearly three years, with measures including the blockade of entire cities for weeks or months, and constant mass testing.
The sudden lifting of restrictions early last December, without mitigation strategies or advance warning, sparked a flurry of infections. According to estimates by various local governments, up to 90% of the population in some provinces will be infected in just over a month.
Source: DN
