China will see hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 cases in the coming days, but the vast majority will recover within seven to 10 days, the country’s top epidemiologist said, as millions of citizens headed home continued to cope with a sudden spread of infections due to shortages. fever medicine and test kits on Sunday. Beijing had a deserted look on Sunday as residents avoided going out, although most malls, shops and restaurants remained open after the sudden lifting of Covid curbs including mandatory nucleic acid tests last week.
However, some restaurants had to be closed due to the infection of several employees. The official number of Covids in Beijing reported on Sunday for Saturday was 1,661, a number that belies widespread evidence of a fast-spreading epidemic in the city of around 22 million people. Anecdotal evidence and social media exchanges have pointed to the possibility that the actual number of active infections in the city may be much higher.
Mainland China reported 2,270 locally transmitted confirmed cases of Covid-19, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, adding that 8,327 local asymptomatic carriers had also been identified. The numbers don’t add up as mass testing requirements have been lifted and the government is encouraging citizens to test themselves.
Report: Positive infections do not need to be reported unless hospitalization is required
Speaking to media in the southern city of Guangzhou over the weekend, Zhong Nanshan, a leading Chinese respiratory expert, admitted that “only a few thousand (positive infections) have actually been diagnosed” and “we see hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people infected in several cities”. “One infected person can spread it (the infection) to 18 others,” Zhong added. “The Omicron variant currently circulating in China is more transmissible, but most infected people can fully recover within a week,” Zhong said during a virtual meeting of the China Thoracic Society’s annual congress, according to CGTN.
“Ninety-nine percent of those infected can recover in 7 to 10 days, and good rest contributes to recovery,” he added, according to a CGTN report. Zhong added that there is a need to increase the vaccination coverage of the entire population, especially among the elderly. “Research has shown that the Omicron variant consistently increases transmissibility, but with a steadily decreasing mortality rate,” Zhong said. “Infections with Omicron mutants, including BA.5 and BF.7, were nothing scary, and most infected people could fully recover in seven to 10 days,” he said.”About 3.45 billion vaccines have been administered by December 7, 2022, and more than 228 million people over the age of 60 have been fully vaccinated by November 28,” the official Xinhua news agency said in a report.
