CDC China: China reported highest Covid-19 cases from Dec to Feb
More than 82%, or more than 1.14 billion, of China’s 1.4 billion individuals were infected with Covid-19 between December and February, according to the country’s top disease control authority in its latest data, which comes amid fears about a rise in virus infectivity this month.
According to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the data in its weekly report this week, Covid-19 cases increased from December 2022 to January 2023, when China dismantled its “zero-Covid” apparatus, which included mass tests, contact tracing, and lockdowns.
According to the most recent CDC assessment, vaccine booster doses effectively avoid infection and signs of the disease within six months.
“Infections sharply rised during December and January, but because many infected people may not have received nucleic acid or antigen tests, the centre’s data could not perfectly reflect the outbreak’s severity,” the state-run China Daily newspaper said in a piece on the CDC data.
The CDC subsequently chose to “estimate the severity of the disease via the anonymous online survey,” seeking information such as gender, occupation, symptoms, age, address, and vaccination status, with four surveys done between December and February.
“The results showed that self-reported infection rates peaked between December 19 and 21, with 82.4% of the Nation’s population infected by the virus as of February 7.”
The CDC previously stated that the number of Covid-19 infections in China rised at 6.94 million per day on December 22 of last year before steadily declining.
“The research team admitted that the research methodology had certain limitations because the survey was limited to only WeChat users and also only covered a sample of 2,316 patients who were infected within certain dates,” said the state-run tabloid Global Times.
While China’s chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou, stated in January that the then-current Covid-19 outbreak had infected approximately 80% of the country, this is the first time a CDC report has verified the data.
The CDC report made no mention of the mortality toll.
China officially recorded only about 80,000 Covid-19 deaths.
In mid-February, China’s authorities announced a “decisive victory” over COVID-19, claiming the world’s lowest fatality rate despite reservations about the death toll figures considering how the Coronavirus swept through the country in days in December.
Concerns over data trustworthiness grew after China’s national health commission (NHC) ceased posting daily Covid-19 statistics in late December amid the country’s worst Covid wave.
Recently, there has been some concern about an increase in Covid-19 cases in China, with the risk of re-infection trending on Chinese social media earlier this month.
On April 20, the CDC reported 2,661 positive Covid-19 cases nationwide.
Get all the latest news of Saurashtra on Indian daily post.
