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China's National Health Commission (NHC) has said that nearly 37 million people may have been infected with Covid on a single day this week, making China's outbreak by far the largest in the world. This single-day estimate was for December 20 when a little over 3,000 cases were seen, as per the official tally. 

The minutes of an internal meeting of the NHC held on Wednesday showed that 248 million people, or nearly 18 per cent of the country's population, likely contracted Covid in the first 20 days of December, news agency Bloomberg reported on Friday. If the data is accurate, the infection rate would dwarf China's previous daily record of about four million Covid cases, which was set in January this year. 

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The minutes of the meeting did not note a discussion on deaths due to the virus. However, the minutes cited the commission's head Ma Xiaowei who reiterated the new criteria used for identifying Covid deaths that have prompted criticism from many disease experts. Acknowledging that deaths will inevitably occur when Covid spreads rapidly, Xiaowei underscored that only people who died from Covid-induced Pneumonia should be included in mortality statistics. 

The government, meanwhile, has also stopped publishing the daily number of asymptomatic cases. 

Didn't receive data from China on new Covid hospitalisations: WHO

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Since the Chinese government lifted the Zero-Covid policy, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not received new data from the country on virus hospitalisations. The absence of data has prompted experts to question whether China might be hiding information on the pandemic. 

WHO's weekly reports showed a surge in hospitalisations up to the government's December 7 decision to ease restrictions on movement, Reuters reported on Friday. However, the figures are not present in the last two reports. 

China requisitions medical supplies production across nation

Amid a shortage of life-saving medicines and testing kits in China, the government has requisitioned medical supplies production. Over a dozen Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been tapped by officials to help secure the supply of key medicines, AFP reported on Friday. On the other hand, At least 11 of the 42 testing kit makers- whose products are licensed by the country's medical regulators had their part of production seized by the government. 

ALSO READ | Covid spike in China causes citizens to turn to black market for medicines

The development comes after ordinary citizens have been turning to the black market to secure medicines such as Pfizer's Paxlovid. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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