Chinese state media reported on January 10 that many parts of China have passed the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Amid international concern over the extent and impact of the outbreak in China, Chinese officials are again downplaying the severity of the outbreak.
Health Times, a publication of the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, reported that infections in the capital Beijing and several provinces in China have declined.
But an official said nearly 90 million people in Henan Province have been infected with the virus.
Last December, the Chinese government abruptly reversed its policy of strict lockdowns and mass testing of people to get rid of the virus. Three years after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the authorities have withdrawn their staunchly enforced zero-covid policy.
After such a policy change, the virus spread uncontrollably. Chinese authorities also lifted the last remaining major restrictions on January 8 and reopened the borders.
Frequent downloads starting early 2020; China’s economic growth, the world’s second-largest economy, has slowed to its slowest pace in nearly half a century, as the world’s second-largest economy faces a record of its slowest growth in nearly half a century, following a crackdown on medical tests and various forms of travel restrictions.
After a recent sharp rise in virus infections, Chinese authorities stopped publishing daily infections and only released daily death tolls in the low tens of thousands.
China’s hospitals and crematoriums are overwhelmed, and international health experts estimate that there could be at least one million deaths linked to the disease in China this year.
Health Times compiled reports from local government officials and health experts across the country that show many areas of China appear to have passed the peak of infections.
