China’s COVID surge solid a shadow over Lunar New 12 months journey rush, however there are indicators of hope

Tokyo — Celebrations are underway everywhere in the world this week as Asians mark the Lunar New 12 months. It is all the time essentially the most festive time of the yr in China, however that is very true this yr. After Beijing suddenly dropped nearly all of its draconian COVID-19 restrictions for the primary time since 2020, thousands and thousands of individuals headed dwelling to their cities and villages, taking full benefit of their new-found freedom.

However the huge vacation migration got here exhausting on the heels of a surge in coronavirus cases across China. Public well being officers warned the travellers would possibly carry the virus into distant areas and precipitate one other killer wave of infections. 

In his New 12 months video handle, President Xi Jinping admitted that China’s most up-to-date COVID surge had been fierce and quick, and it was no understatement. 

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist on the China Heart for Illness Management and Prevention estimated that 80% of China’s inhabitants — a inhabitants of greater than 1.4 billion folks, 4 occasions that of the US — has now been contaminated with the virus. Most of these infections have come simply for the reason that begin of December.

Chinese language well being officers have confirmed solely about 80,000 deaths from COVID-19, however Western analysts consider that is a wild understatement of the actual influence.

Rasmus Bech Hansen, CEO of the well being analytics firm Airfinity, advised CBS Information the variety of deaths from COVID-19 in China was anticipated to peak inside the subsequent week or so, “and it’ll attain the 1-million mark. So, 1 million complete deaths on the finish of this month.”

The true determine could by no means grow to be clear, particularly as Chinese language docs have been below strain to not checklist COVID as a trigger on loss of life certificates.

With that backdrop, thousands and thousands of Chinese language metropolis dwellers took to trains, planes and cars over the past week to go again to go to household throughout the large nation for the Lunar New 12 months.

The priority was that the urbanites may deliver the virus again with them, into locations the place individuals are typically less-well vaccinated and populations are sometimes older, probably setting off one other huge wave of infections.

CBS Information visited the provincial metropolis of Zhaotong, the place we shot video covertly as COVID-19 remains to be a delicate topic for authorities.

We discovered that the virus had arrived a while in the past. One lady advised us her mom had not too long ago examined constructive, and a person stated it appeared that nearly everybody on the town — 80% by his personal estimation — had been contaminated.

It does seem that, because the nation’s leaders have stated, China’s COVID-19 outbreak has lastly peaked and is beginning to decline. 

If that is true, and the economic system begins choosing up, the New 12 months of the Rabbit might be off to an auspicious begin.