The current corona wave hits China so hard Italy is considering introducing a “border tax premium”

The massive corona wave in China has reached a new peak. According to model calculations, the number of new daily infections could have risen to a peak of 4.8 million per day by Friday before falling again, London-based research institute Airfinity reports.

Travel wave promotes infection

According to the calculations, the number of deaths should reach the highest level on Thursday at 36,000 per day. According to these estimates, as many as 848,000 people may have died since early December.

The experts also said the spread of the virus had accelerated faster than expected due to the wave of travel that began in early January for the current Chinese New Year celebrations. According to estimates by leading National Health Department (CDC) epidemiologist Wu Zunyou, up to 80 percent of all Chinese people are likely to be infected with the virus — more than a billion.

Hospitals and crematoriums overloaded

If two infection curves were originally predicted, a larger and longer wave is now expected, which should increase the pressure on hospitals and lead to higher mortality, the Airfinity researchers report.

Their newly presented projections factor in reports that some domestic provinces, including Henan, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan, have already peaked in their wave of infections.

After nearly three years, China abruptly abandoned its strict zero-Covid strategy of lockdowns, enforced quarantines and mass testing seven weeks ago. The measures could no longer stop the virus and put pressure on the second largest economy.

Official figures are not published

The reason for the complete relaxation was the omicron variant with a lighter disease course. Since then, a large wave of infections has been rolling through the most populous country in the world. Hospitals and crematoria are overcrowded and many medicines are sold out.

Official figures on the extent of the infections are no longer published. In mid-January, the Chinese Health Commission reported that around 60,000, mainly elderly people, had died from or with a corona infection since the beginning of December. However, foreign experts consider the figures unrealistic. (t-online, dpa)