China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday that China’s daily COVID-19 infection cases had exceeded 7 million around December 22, while the number of deaths neared 4,000 a day on January 4. The figures, published on the center’s website, came as a leading government scientist said over the weekend that 80% of China’s 1.4 billion population has already been infected, with the number of COVID-19 cases rising over the next two or three months. It is likely to rise again on a large scale.
Around December 22, 2022, the number of infected people and the number of patient consultations out of fever have reached a peak. A National Health Commission official said last week that China has surpassed the number of COVID patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and in critical conditions.
As of January 12, nearly 60,000 people had died in hospital, according to government figures but some experts said the figure probably underestimates the full effect, because it includes people who died at home and because many doctors have said they are discouraged from assigning the cause of death to COVID
