The Chinese city that registers a record of half a million daily infections of coronavirus

Half a million people are infected daily with coronavirus covid-19 in the city of Qingdao, in Chinaa local health authority reported, a rare acknowledgment of the wave of infections that do not appear in official statistics.

A news outlet operated by the Communist Party in qingdao cited the municipal health chief on Friday as saying that the eastern city registers “between 490,000 and 530,000” new daily cases of covid-19.

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The coastal city of about 10 million people is facing “a period of rapid transmission and is approaching a peak”, said Bo Tao, quoted by the outlet. He anticipated that the infection rate would accelerate 10% over the weekend.

China this month began dismantling the main components of its zero-covid strategy, by lifting lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions.

The end of mandatory testing made it impossible to trace infections, prompting authorities to change the medical definition of a death from covid-19, which experts say will reduce the number of deaths attributable to the virus.

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Meanwhile, in cities across China Pharmacy shelves go empty, hospitals fill up, and crematoriums and funeral homes barely keep up.

The report on Qingdao was shared by several other mediabut it appeared to have been edited on Saturday to suppress the number of infections.

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday that the country recorded 4,103 new coronavirus infections on Saturday with no new deaths.

In the province of shangdongwhere is it qingdaothe authorities officially reported only 31 new infections.

The Chinese government controls the local media, with legions of internet censors suppressing content deemed politically sensitive.

Most of the government-controlled media have downplayed the severity of the wave of infections and instead point to the policy change as logical and coordinated.

But the government of the eastern province of jiangxi It said on social media on Friday that 80% of its population, some 36 million people, would be infected by March.

In the past two weeks to Thursday, more than 18,000 patients have been admitted to the province’s health institutions, including nearly 500 severe cases, though no deaths, according to the statement.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.