BEIJING – Many elements of China are already previous their peak of COVID-19 infections, state media reported on Tuesday, with officers additional downplaying the severity of the outbreak regardless of worldwide issues about its scale and impression.
A abstract by Health Times, a publication managed by People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, stated infections have been declining within the capital Beijing and a number of other Chinese provinces. One official was quoted as saying almost 90 million individuals had already been contaminated in Henan province.
The virus has been spreading freely in China since a coverage U-turn in early December after protests towards a “zero-COVID” regime ruthlessly enforced for 3 years. China reopened its borders on Sunday, eradicating the final main restrictions.
The frequent lockdowns, relentless testing and numerous ranges of motion curbs since early 2020 have introduced the world’s second-largest financial system to one among its slowest progress charges in almost half a century and precipitated widespread misery.
With the virus let unfastened, China has stopped publishing every day an infection tallies and has been reporting 5 or fewer deaths a day for the reason that coverage U-turn, figures which have been disputed by the World Health Organization.
Many Chinese funeral properties and hospitals say they’re overwhelmed, and worldwide well being consultants predict at the very least 1 million COVID-related deaths in China this yr.
On Tuesday, a Health Times compilation of stories from native authorities officers and well being consultants throughout the nation, prompt the COVID wave could also be previous its peak in lots of areas.
Kan Quan, director of the Office of the Henan Provincial Epidemic Prevention and Control, was cited as saying the an infection fee within the central province of almost 100 million was almost 90% as of Jan. 6.
The variety of sufferers at clinics within the province reached a peak on Dec. 19, however the variety of extreme instances was nonetheless excessive, he stated, with out giving additional particulars.
Yin Yong, appearing mayor of Beijing, was cited as saying the capital was additionally previous its peak. Li Pan, deputy director of the Municipal Health Commission within the metropolis of Chongqing stated the height there was reached on Dec. 20.
In the province of Jiangsu, the height was reached on Dec. 22, whereas in Zheijiang province “the first wave of infections has passed smoothly,” officers stated. Two cities within the southern Guangdong province, China’s manufacturing heartland, reached their peaks earlier than the tip of the yr.
Separately within the state-run China Daily, a outstanding well being official stated the share of extreme instances remained unclear.
“It is still too early to conclude the overall percentage of severe and critical COVID patients in China as different types of hospitals report different numbers, Wang Guiqiang, head of Peking University First Hospital’s infectious disease department, was quoted as saying.
Pfizer criticism
China has dismissed criticism over its data as politically-motivated attempts to smear its “success” in handling the pandemic and said any future mutations are likely to be more infectious but cause less severe illness.
Testing requirements introduced by several countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain, France and others in response to China’s COVID outbreak, were called out by foreign ministry as “discriminatory.”
Although Beijing also demands negative COVID test results from people landing in China, officials have threatened further retaliation against countries imposing travel curbs that inconvenience the reopening of the $17 trillion economy.
The Chinese embassy in South Korea said on Tuesday it will stop issuing short-term visa for Korean citizens to visit China and that it will adjust the policy subject to Seoul lifting its testing mandate on Chinese visitors.
State media has also taken a swipe at Pfizer Inc over the price for its COVID treatment Paxlovid.
“It is just not a secret that US capital forces have already collected fairly a fortune from the world by way of promoting vaccines and medicines, and the US authorities has been coordinating all alongside,” nationalist tabloid Global Times said in an editorial.
Pfizer’s Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Monday the company was in discussions with Chinese authorities about a price for Paxlovid, but not over licensing a generic version in China.
The abrupt change of course in COVID policies has left China’s health system unprepared, with many hospitals ill-equipped to handle patients in critical conditions and smaller cities scrambling to secure basic anti-fever drug supplies.
Wang Lili, general manager at a factory making medical products for hospitals in Beijing’s CR Double Crane Industrial Park, told Reuters that intravenous drips were their most in-demand product.
The company has since Jan. 5 done away with weekends to meet demand.
“We are working 24/7,” Wang stated. —Reuters
