Status: 01/19/2023 1:10 p.m
The New Year celebrations start in China at the weekend – in the midst of the country’s strongest corona wave to date. Authorities report that the peak has been passed. However, the WHO and data experts are still skeptical.
According to the authorities, China reached the peak of severe corona infections shortly before the start of the Chinese New Year. The number of critically ill patients in hospitals as of Jan. 17 was more than 40 percent below the Jan. 5 peak, an official with the National Health Commission said. The country has thus passed the peak of the wave of seriously ill patients in fever clinics and emergency rooms.
However, President Xi Jinping had only expressed concern the day before that the rural areas of the People’s Republic would not be able to deal with the expected increase in infections due to the wave of travel for the New Year festival, which begins on Sunday night. According to the state news agency Xinhua, the president therefore emphasized the need to “remedy the deficiencies in epidemic prevention and control in rural areas”.
WHO sees “very significant information gaps”
The country’s official corona data are widely viewed with skepticism. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are some “very significant information gaps”. On Saturday, China revised the number of deaths related to the virus sharply upwards in the wake of criticism, reporting almost 60,000 deaths since the start of corona easing in early December – a tenfold increase from previous figures.
However, the statistics only consider deaths within medical facilities. It remains unclear whether other people died in their own home in connection with Corona. In addition, some doctors in the country have said they are being discouraged from citing Covid-19 as the cause of death on death certificates.
Criticism of western media
China, in turn, sharply criticized the reporting of “some Western media” about the end of the zero-Covid policy. The reports rely on “totally biased hype, slander and political manipulation with ulterior motives,” according to an editorial in the Renmin Ribao newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
Up to 36,000 deaths expected daily
Since many millions of people travel to their hometowns for the New Year celebrations, recent estimates by UK health data company Airfinity the number of daily corona infections will increase to up to 4.8 million. The company estimates up to 36,000 deaths a day at the peak – about 11,000 more cases than previous estimates. Other experts are assuming more than a million corona deaths in the country this year.
“Our forecast places a significant strain on China’s healthcare system over the next two weeks and it is likely that many treatable patients will die due to overcrowded hospitals and a lack of care,” said Airfinity’s Matt Linley.
In order to be able to meet the rapidly increasing demand, the Chinese drug manufacturers are currently trebling their production capacities for important fever and cough medicines in a hurry, as the state-run newspaper “China Daily” reported.