90% of China’s third-most populous Henan province infected with Covid, says health official

China’s third-most populous province, Henan, is struggling to keep Covid cases in check as around 90 per cent of the population hasbeen infected with the virus, a local health officialsaid.

About 88.5 million people out of the total 99.4 million population have been infected with COVID-19, provincial official Kan Quancheng revealed at a press conference on Monday, reports AFP news agency.

He, however, did not provide a timeline of when these infections happened, but it is believed that the cases might have jumped in the past three weeks when China dropped the stringent Covid restrictions, and as a result, recorded a spurt in cases.

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Visits to fever clinics in the province peaked on 19 December, the official said, adding "after which it showed a continuous downward trend".

The Henan provincial figures are in stark contrast to Covid figures from the central government

The latest figures from the official are in stark contrast to the data being provided by the Beijing officials of across the country. According to official data, only 120,000 people in the country of 1.4 billion have been infected and 30 died since the shift in Covid policy.

China reopens borders from Hong Kong to mainland China ending its major Covid restrictions

As of January 8, China reported only 5,272 Covid-related deaths, one of the lowest rates of death from the infection in the world.

A lot of countries and the WHO have cast doubts over Beijing’s official figures, with the UN health agency indicating that the country might even be “under-reporting” the severity of the Covid cases.

Chinese rush to renew passports

Soon after Beijing dropped Covid border controls that had largely prevented its 1.4 billion residents from travelling for three years, long serpentine queues were witnessed outside the immigration office in the capital on Monday to renew their passports.

On Sunday, China lifted one of the last curbs of its draconian “zero-Covid” regime, which has managed to keep the virus at bay, but caused widespread anger among the people.

Buoyed by the decision, China’s currency and stock markets recorded strong opening on Monday, as investors hoped that the reopening could help reinvigorate a $17 trillion economy suffering its lowest growth in nearly half a century, reports Reuters news agency

Experts believe that China’s decision to drop quarantine requirements for visitors is expected to boost outbound travel, as residents will not face those restrictions when they return.

(With inputs from agencies)

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