37 MILLION CASES OF COVID REPORTED IN CHINA IN A SINGLE DAY: REPORT

Sat 24  December 2022:

The COVID-19 virus may have infected about 37 million individuals in China on a single day this week, according to a report from the Bloomberg news agency, which was based on information from the minutes of a National Health Commission meeting that took place on Wednesday.

Overall, according to the estimate, which was released on Friday, 248 million individuals, or nearly 18% of the country’s population, are expected to have contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December.

China is witnessing a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases since it dropped its controversial zero-COVID policy following widespread protests in recent weeks. Under the zero-COVID policy, the country’s authorities were placing entire towns and cities under lockdown if they reported a few cases.

Now with those restrictions mostly lifted, China has also stopped mass-testing policies and no longer reports asymptomatic cases.

This has led to concerns of widespread infections among a population that has largely been unexposed to the actual virus, and that has lost much of the protection it might have gained from vaccine shots taken several months ago.

The country’s health system has also been caught unprepared by the sudden U-turn in the government’s policy, with hospitals and pharmacies struggling to cope.