by Bernard Orr and Ellen Zhang
BEIJING (Reuters) – The peak of the current wave of COVID-19 infections in China is expected to last at least two to three months, and could soon spread to vast rural areas where medical infrastructure is lacking, a Chinese epidemiologist has warned. .
The number of infections is expected to climb in rural areas as hundreds of millions of Chinese prepare to leave cities to reunite with their families for the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on January 21.
Beijing’s lifting of its very restrictive “zero-Covid” policy, in the face of unprecedented protests from a population tired by three years of health restrictions, has fueled a new wave of contamination in China, but the worst is not yet over. , warned Zeng Guang, the former chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention according to an article published Thursday by Caixin.
“Our focus has been mainly on big cities. It’s time to focus on rural areas,” he said in reported comments.
Much of the population living in rural areas is left behind, including the elderly, sick and disabled, said Zeng Guang.
Chinese authorities say they are making efforts to improve the supply of antiviral drugs throughout the country. Merck & Co’s molnupiravir treatment has been available in China since Friday.
But Chinese virologists announced on Friday that they had discovered an infection with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant, described by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most transmissible subvariant discovered to date.
Chinese health authorities have reported five or fewer deaths a day over the past month, figures that do not match the reality on the ground, including the long queues seen at funeral homes.
No data on the number of deaths related to COVID-19 has been released since Monday. Last month, the authorities said they planned to publish updated data on a monthly rather than a daily basis in the future.
Fears over this lack of transparency are one reason many countries have introduced mandatory testing for travelers from China, sparking a diplomatic battle between Beijing and its main neighbors Japan and Korea. of the South, as China suspended the issuance of short-term visas for Japanese and South Korean citizens.
(With input from the Beijing and Shanghai offices, written by Marius Zaharia; Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Kate Entringer)