China says severe Covid cases have peaked – News
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Health officials said Thursday that the number of COVID patients needing intensive care in hospitals across China has peaked. The statement comes as millions travel across the country for a long-awaited family reunion, raising fears of an outbreak.
There has been widespread skepticism about China’s official Covid data since the country abruptly lifted virus controls last month that had protected 1.4 billion people from the disease for three years.
China last Saturday (14) said that Nearly 60,000 people with Covid have died in hospitals Between December 8th and January 12th – almost a tenfold increase compared to previous editions.
However, that figure excludes those who die at home, and some doctors in China have said they discourage the inclusion of Covid on death certificates.
As the volume of travel increases during the busy Lunar New Year holiday season, up to 36,000 people could die from the disease each day, according to the latest projections from UK-based health data company Airfinity.
Other experts predict more than 1 million deaths from the disease this year.
But an official with the National Health Commission said at a press conference on Thursday that China had spent the peak period for Covid patients in clinics, emergency rooms and in critical cases.
An official said the number of critically ill patients hospitalized decreased by more than 40% on January 17 from the peak recorded on January 5.
The new data came after President Xi Jinping expressed concern that rural areas are ill-equipped to handle a surge in infections as the January public holiday begins in their hometowns.
Copyright © Thomson Reuters.
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