China is currently experiencing the first of three estimated waves of COVID cases this winter, according to the country’s chief epidemiologist Wu Zhongguo
Streets in major Chinese cities were eerily quiet today as residents stayed indoors to protect themselves from a surge of COVID-19 cases in urban centers across the country.
China is currently experiencing the first of three estimated waves of COVID cases this winter, according to the country’s chief epidemiologist Wu Zhongwu. Infections could multiply across the country if, as is customary, citizens travel en masse to visit their particular homelands during the Chinese New Year holiday next month.
China has not officially announced any more COVID-related deaths since Dec. 7, when authorities suddenly lifted most of the restrictions considered critical to the ‘zero COVID’ policy following unprecedented public protests against the health protocols.
As part of the easing of ‘zero COVID’ restrictions, mass testing for the virus has ended, raising doubts about whether officially recorded cases can capture the full extent of the outbreak. China announced 2,097 new symptomatic COVID infections on December 17.
In Beijing, the spread of the highly contagious Omicron strain has already hit service companies, from restaurants to parcel deliveries. Funeral homes and crematoria in the city of 22 million are also struggling to manage increased demand for their services.
Posts on social media also showed empty streets in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi’an, while netizens complained of delays in delivery services.
In Chengdu, streets were deserted but delivery times from restaurants were improving, a resident said, as those services began to adjust to the recent surge in cases. However, according to her, antigen tests continue to be difficult to find.
Online courses
In Shanghai, authorities have told schools that from tomorrow most classes will have to be held online, while in nearby Hangzhou authorities are urging schools to finish the winter term early. In Guangzhou, distance learning students and kindergarten children should not prepare to return to school, the relevant education agency said
Speaking at a conference yesterday in Beijing, Wu, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the current outbreak is expected to peak this winter and move in three waves over about three months, according to reports in state media. The first wave will last from mid-December to mid-January, mainly in cities, before the second wave begins from late January to mid-February 2023, triggered by the movement of citizens ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday week .
China will celebrate the Lunar New Year starting on January 21. For this holiday usually hundreds of millions of people travel to their particular homelands to spend time with their families.
A third wave will last from late February to mid-March as Chinese return to work after the holidays, Wu said.
He said that the vaccination that has already been done offers some degree of protection. He added that those in vulnerable groups should be protected, while recommending booster vaccinations for the general population.
About 87% of all citizens over the age of 60 have been fully vaccinated, but only 66.4% of people over the age of 80 have completed their vaccinations, according to the Xinhua news agency.
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