Beijing, Europe Brief News – China’s current wave of Covid-19 infections is “coming to an end, official sources said.
The number of severe Covid cases and deaths is trending downward, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report.
It also said there had been “no obvious rebound” during Lunar New Year holidays last week, where millions reunited for family gatherings.
There have long been questions raised about China’s Covid reporting.
But experts say the decline reported now corresponds with the expected timing of an end to this major wave.
The virus tore through Chinese cities and towns after authorities lifted zero-Covid restrictions in December. However fever clinic visit rates have dropped over 90% through January and hospitalisation rates are down over 85%.
Fears that the virus could surge again during the festive period have also not yet been realized.
China stopped reporting data on COVID-19 deaths and infections after abruptly lifting anti-virus controls in December despite a surge in infections that began in October and has filled hospitals with feverish, wheezing patients.
The World Health Organization and other governments appealed to China for information after reports by city and provincial governments suggested hundreds of millions of people in China might have contracted the virus.
However,he peak of the latest wave of infections appears to have passed, based on a decline in the number of patients visiting fever clinics, said National Health Commission official Jiao Yahui.
The daily number of people going to those clinics peaked at 2.9 million on December 23 and had fallen by 83 percent to 477,000 on Thursday, Jiao said.
