Zhejiang, a large industrial province near Shanghai, is dealing with about a million new COVID-19 infections every day, with the number projected to rise in the coming days, according to the provincial authorities on Sunday.
Despite a statewide spike in cases, China recorded no COVID deaths on the mainland in the five days ending Saturday, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.
Inhabitants and scientists have appealed for more reliable statistics as infections increased following Beijing’s major adjustments to a zero-COVID policy that had locked down hundreds of millions of its citizens and damaged the world’s second-largest economy.
China’s national data had become insufficient since the National Health Commission had ceased reporting asymptomatic illnesses, making it difficult to track instances. The commission ceased providing daily numbers on Sunday, which were thereafter released by the China CDC.
Zhejiang is one of the only places where recent rises in infections, including asymptomatic cases, have been estimated.
The infection peak is expected to come early in Zhejiang and enter a period of heightened level around New Year’s Day, during which the daily new infection number might reach two million, according to a statement from the Zhejiang government.
In Zhejiang, which has a population of 65.4 million people, one patient experienced severe symptoms caused by COVID, whereas 242 infections of severe and critical circumstances were caused by underlying disorders.
China tightened its criterion for reporting COVID deaths, listing only those caused by COVID pneumonia or respiratory failure, prompting concerns among global health experts.
Since Beijing relaxed its limitations, the World Health Organization has received no data from China on new COVID hospitalisations. According to the organisation, the data gap might be attributable to officials trying to count instances in the world’s most populated country.
MOST DANGEROUS WEEKS’
“”China is entering the most perilous weeks of the epidemic,” according to a Capital Economics research report. “The authorities are making practically no attempts today to limit the spread of illnesses, and with the movement ahead of the Lunar New Year starting, any sections of the country that are not already experiencing a significant COVID wave will be shortly.”
Recently, the cities of Qingdao and Dongguan each estimated tens of thousands of daily COVID infections, well exceeding the national daily toll without asymptomatic cases.
According to official media, the country’s healthcare system has been under immense strain, with personnel being requested to work while unwell and retired medical workers in remote towns being rehired to aid grass-roots initiatives.
The approaching Lunar New Year in January, when large numbers of people return home, adds to the urgency.
Visits to Zhejiang fever clinics have reached 408,400 a day, 14 times normal levels, according to a Zhejiang official during a news briefing.
Daily inquiries to the emergency centre in Zhejiang’s capital, Hangzhou, have recently more than quadrupled on average compared to last year, according to state media, citing a Hangzhou health official. Suzhou, China’s easternmost city, stated late Saturday that its emergency line received a record 7,233 calls on Thursday.
