Pedestrians walk in the Lujiazui Pudong Financial District in Shanghai, China, Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
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The possibility of a resurgence of Covid-19 in China in the next two to three months is remote as 80% of people have been infected, a prominent government scientist said on Saturday.
Mass movement of people during the still-active Lunar New Year holiday could spread the pandemic, increasing infections in some areas, but a second wave of Covid is unlikely in the near term, said Wu Zunyou, head of epidemiology at China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. , said on the Weibo social media platform.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese travel across the country for holiday reunions that have been suspended due to Covid-19, raising fears of a new outbreak in rural areas ill-equipped to deal with a major outbreak.
China has passed the peak of Covid patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and in critical condition, a National Health Commission official said on Thursday.
Nearly 60,000 people with Covid have died in hospitals since January 12, about a month after China abruptly ended its zero-Covid policy, according to government data.
But some experts say the numbers may be understated, because they don’t include people who died at home, and because many doctors say they can’t cite Covid as the cause of death.