More Than Half Of China's Population Infected With Covid

The rise in infections came a few months ago…

Shanghai: On Tuesday, 03 January 2023, A senior doctor at one of Shanghai's top hospitals said 70 per cent of the population may have been infected with Coronavirus infection during China's huge surge in cases, state media reported.

The steep rise in infections came after years of strict restrictions were abruptly eased last month with little warning or few preparations, and quickly overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.

Chen Erzhen, vice president at Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai's Covid expert advisory panel, estimated that the majority of the city's 25 million people may have been infected so far.

"Now the spread of the epidemic in Shanghai is very wide, and it may have reached 70 per cent of the population, which is 20 to 30 times more than (in April and May)," he told Dajiangdong Studio, owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

Shanghai suffered a gruelling two-month lockdown in April, during which over 600,000 residents were infected and many were hauled to mass quarantine centres.

But now, the Omicron variant is spreading very fast across the city and experts predict infections there will peak in early 2023.

In other major cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou, Chinese health officials have suggested that the wave has already peaked.

Chen added that his Shanghai hospital was seeing 1,600 emergency admissions daily -- double the number prior to restrictions being lifted -- with 80 per cent of them Covid patients.

"Nearly 100 ambulances arrive at the hospital every day," he was quoted as saying, adding that around half of emergency admissions were vulnerable people aged more than 65.

At Tongren Hospital in downtown Shanghai, on Tuesday, AFP reporters saw patients receiving emergency medical attention outside the entrance of the overcrowded facility.