About 80 percent of China’s population is already infected with Covid-19, a senior government epidemiologist said, downplaying the possibility of a new wave of cases during the Lunar New Year period.
Wu Zunyou’s comments come as Chinese families cross borders for the first time since 2019 and reunite over the Lunar New Year holiday. In the largest annual human migration, the country’s Ministry of Transport estimates that Chinese citizens will make 2.1 billion trips.
The festival, which runs from January 21 to 27, is China’s biggest annual public holiday when financial markets are closed for the week. It is also celebrated across Asia in countries such as South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia.
In a sudden turnaround late last year, China eased its strict zero-Covid policy, prompting a mass outbreak. Wu, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this surge would protect against a surge in cases caused by the New Year migration.
“The likelihood of a major nationwide recovery or a second wave in the next two to three months is slim as this wave of the epidemic has already infected about 80 percent of the population,” Wu said, according to a report by the Global Times, a Chinese state-run media newspaper.
Wu acknowledged that the large movement of people during the holiday could lead to a surge in infections in some places.
China has been accused of undercounting the number of deaths from Covid-19 after the country announced last weekend that nearly 60,000 had died from the disease from December 8 to January 12. Airfinity analysts put the probable death toll at over 641,000 so far.
One factor skewing the statistics is pressure from local authorities on medical professionals not to list Covid as the cause of death on official certificates, to the dismay of loved ones.
With China lifting quarantine restrictions in January, travel providers have seen bookings surge over the new year from the country’s 1.4 billion residents, most of whom have been stuck within its borders for three years.
Trip.com, China’s largest online travel agency, said popular destinations include Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Singapore and the United States, a boon to the global travel industry.
Southeast Asia and Thailand, in particular, will reap the greatest benefit from Chinese tourists venturing beyond mainland China or the Hong Kong and Macau areas, a gambling hub next to Guangdong Province in southern China.
According to Trip.com, outbound trips by Chinese citizens increased by 540 percent compared to last year’s Lunar New Year.
Comments are closed.