Mallika Dureja
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China is dealing with an alarming rise in the number of Covid cases, which has caused worry around the world. A new study says that by the end of January, almost all Beijing residents will likely have the virus.
According to a study that was published in the journal Nature Medicine, “about 92% of Beijing’s 22 million people will be infected by the end of January, and almost 76% were infected by December 22.”
Also read: China says that in 35 days, nearly 60,000 people have died because of covid.
The study also said that the virus’s reproduction rate had gone up to 3.44, which means that one person with the virus can spread it to 3.44 other people. Notably, a top official said last week that Covid was found in almost 90% of China’s third most populous province. According to AFP, Kan Quancheng, who is in charge of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that as of January 6, 2023, 89.0% of people in the province are infected with Covid.
An expert said before that more than 70% of the people in Shanghai are already infected with Covid, which is a scary number given the rise in cases in China.
Chen Erzhen, vice president at Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai’s Covid expert advisory panel, told Dajiangdong Studio, which is owned by state media People’s Daily, that the epidemic is now very widespread in Shanghai and may have reached 70% of the population. This is 20 to 30 times more than in April and May.
Nearly everyone in Beijing will have contracted Covid by the end of this month, according to a study in the journal Nature Medicine. https://t.co/kdo7gn8ApH
— Bloomberg (@business) January 14, 2023
A top Chinese epidemiologist had said before that the Covid wave will reach its peak in China in the next two to three months. Zeng Guang, who used to be the head epidemiologist at China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also said that the wave will have a huge effect on the country’s rural areas.
