- Nicholas Young
- BBC
The number of infections in Henan province is in stark contrast to the numbers announced by the central government
Chinese officials have said that around 90% of citizens in Henan Province, China’s third most populous province, have already been infected with the Corona virus.
And the regional official, Kan Quan Cheng, revealed at a press conference that the number of injured reached about 88.5 million people.
China is facing an unprecedented increase in the number of infections after abandoning policies to combat the spread of Covid in December.
The move came on the heels of rare protests against lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.
The official did not specify a time frame for registering the cases, but given that the country’s previous policy to fight the spread of the virus had helped keep the cases of infection at the lowest levels, it is likely that most of the cases in the province of Henan it happened in the last few weeks.
The official added that the influx of patients to clinics in Henan province peaked on Dec. 19, “after which (the indicators) showed a continuous decline.”
The number of infections in Henan province is in stark contrast to the numbers announced by the central government.
Official figures say only 120,000 people have been infected in the country of 1.4 billion people and 30 people have died since the government’s policy change to combat the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, authorities reported three COVID-19 deaths in mainland China on Sunday, an increase of one death from the previous day.
image copyright EPA
Official data showed 34.7 million people traveled nationwide on Saturday
Despite this, government figures no longer reflect the true size of the disease outbreak, in light of the caution in announcing the number of deaths from Covid, as well as the lack of mandatory comprehensive tests compared to the previous situation.
Other local and regional officials also provided figures that differ markedly from those reported by the central government.
A senior health official in the coastal city of Qingdao said on the eve of Christmas Day that half a million people were being infected every day, and these statements were quickly suppressed in the news.
This comes at a time when Chinese health officials have said they are not including the antiviral vaccine ‘Paxlovid’, manufactured by the company ‘Pfizer’, in basic medical insurance plans due to the high price set by the American company.
Demand for the vaccine, which is temporarily covered by China’s health insurance plan until March 31, has seen a sharp increase since the surge in COVID-19 cases in China last month.
Officials said in a statement that Pfizer would continue to work with the Chinese government and all stakeholders to “ensure adequate supplies” of medicines to China.
On Sunday, Beijing decided to remove mandatory quarantine measures for all foreign arrivals and opened its borders with Hong Kong.
During the first wave of pre-holiday travel, official data showed 34.7 million people traveled within the country on Saturday, an increase of more than a third from last year, according to state media.
Cases of the infection are expected to rise as the country celebrates the Lunar New Year later this month, with millions traveling from major cities to visit older relatives in rural areas.
Overall, more than two billion individual trips are expected to be logged, officials said.
