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| Medical workers talk to a woman as an elderly patient receives medical treatment in the hallway of an emergency ward in a Beijing hospital, Jan. 19. AP-Yonhap |
The possibility of a big COVID-19 rebound in China over the next two or three months is remote as 80 percent of people have been infected, a prominent government scientist said Saturday.
The mass movement of people during the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday period may spread the pandemic, boosting infections in some areas, but a second wave of the coronavirus is unlikely in the near term, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on the Weibo social media platform.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese are travelling across the country for holiday reunions that had been suspended under recently eased COVID curbs, raising fears of fresh outbreaks in rural areas less equipped to manage large outbreaks.
China has passed the peak of COVID patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and with critical conditions, a National Health Commission official said Thursday.
Nearly 60,000 people have died from COVID in hospital as of Jan. 12, roughly a month after China abruptly dismantled its zero-COVID policy, according to government data.
But some experts said that figure probably vastly undercounts the full impact, as it excludes those who died at home, and because many doctors have said they are discouraged from citing COVID as a cause of death. (Reuters)
