One million new COVID-19 infections are reported every day in Zhejiang, a significant industrial province in China close to Shanghai; this figure is projected to rise over the coming days. China reported no COVID deaths on the mainland for the five days up through Saturday, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday, despite a record rise in cases nationwide.
As infections increased following Beijing’s radical revisions to the zero-COVID policy that had subjected hundreds of millions of its inhabitants to constant lockdowns and devastated the second-largest economy in the world, citizens and experts demanded for more precise data. As the National Health Commission ceased reporting asymptomatic illnesses, making it more difficult to track instances, national statistics from China had become insufficient. The China CDC then released the data after the commission ceased releasing daily results on Sunday.
World health experts expressed concern after China limited the definition of COVID deaths
Zhejiang is among the few areas to estimate their recent spikes in infections including asymptomatic cases. “The infection peak is estimated to arrive earlier in Zhejiang and to enter a period of the elevated level around New Year’s Day, during which the daily new infection number will be up to two million,” the Zhejiang government said in a statement.
Among the 13,583 infections being treated in the hospitals of Zhejiang, which has a population of 65.4 million, one patient had severe symptoms brought on by COVID, while 242 infections with severe and critical circumstances were brought on by underlying disorders. World health experts expressed concern after China limited the definition of COVID deaths in its reporting, identifying only those caused by pneumonia or respiratory failure due to the virus.
Since Beijing loosened its limitations, the World Health Organization has not received any information from China regarding new COVID hospitalizations. According to the organization, the data gap may be caused by the authorities’ difficulties tallying instances in the nation with the largest population.
China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic
“China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic,” said a research note from Capital Economics. “The authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major COVID wave will be soon.”
In recent times, the cities of Qingdao and Dongguan have both reported estimates of tens of thousands of daily COVID infections, which is significantly larger than the daily national toll sans asymptomatic cases. According to state media, the nation’s healthcare system has been under a great deal of stress as a result of staff members being requested to work while ill and even retired medical professionals in rural towns being rehired to support grassroots initiatives.