China reduces Critical Covid cases by 72% at the end of January
China has shown a radical decrease in covid cases in January, according to the country’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The peak of covid cases occurred on December 22 of last year, and hospital deaths reached their daily peak on January 4, with 4,273 cases.
However, by the 23rd of that month, the number had substantially dropped to 896, a 79% reduction. Critical covid cases also saw a 72% drop, peaking at 128,000 on the 5th of January and falling to 36,000 on the 23rd.
These statistics come after China’s strict ‘zero covid’ policy was dismantled at the beginning of December. The chief epidemiologist of the CDC, Wu Zunyou estimates that 80% of the Chinese population have been infected with covid.
Hence, it is estimated that 1,129.4 million people have contracted the virus, surpassing the 900 million cases indicated by a Peking University study. Recently voices have questioned the figures released by China yet to date China has acknowledged 73,000 deaths of covid patients in hospitals from December 8 to January 19.
Meanwhile, a British health sector analysis company Airfinity reported an estimate of 36,000 deaths reaching its peak during Lunar New Year holidays in China.
Overall, these statistics suggest China’s successful response to covid and that the country is now entering a period of vaccine-driven recovery.