Beijing
\nChina\u2019s state media played down the severity on Tuesday of the Covid-19 wave surging over the country, with its scientists expected to give a briefing to the World Health Organisation on the evolution of the virus later in the day.
\nChina\u2019s abrupt U-turn on Covid controls on Dec 7, as well as the accuracy of its case and mortality data, have come under increasing scrutiny at home and overseas and prompted some countries to impose travel curbs.
\nThe policy shift followed protests over the \u201czero Covid\u201d approach championed by President Xi Jinping, marking the strongest show of public defiance in his decade-old presidency and coinciding with the slowest growth in China in nearly half a century.
\nAs the virus spreads unchecked, funeral parlours report a spike in demand for their services and international health experts predict at least one million deaths in the world\u2019s most populous country this year.
\nChina reported three new Covid deaths for Monday, up from one for Sunday. Its official death toll since the pandemic began now stands at 5,253.
\nIn an article on Tuesday, People\u2019s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, cited several Chinese experts as saying the illness caused by the virus was relatively mild for most people.
\n\u201cSevere and critical illnesses account for 3 per cent to 4pc of infected patients currently admitted to designated hospitals in Beijing,\u201d Tong Zhaohui, Vice President of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, told the newspaper.
\nKang Yan, head of West China Tianfu Hospital of Sichuan University, said that in the past three weeks, a total of 46 critically ill patients have been admitted to intensive care units, accounting for about 1pc of symptomatic infections.
\nMore than 80pc of those living in the southwestern Sichuan province have been infected, local health authorities said.
\nThe WHO on Friday urged China\u2019s health officials to regularly share specific and real-time information on the Covid situation.
\nThe agency has invited Chinese scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing at a meeting of a technical advisory group scheduled for Tuesday. It has also asked China to share data on hospitalisations, deaths and vaccinations.
\nThe European Union has offered free Covid vaccines to China to help contain the outbreak, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
\nEU government health officials will hold talks on Wednesday on a coordinated response to China\u2019s outbreak, the Swedish EU presidency said on Monday.
\nThe United States, France, Australia, India, and others will require mandatory Covid tests on travellers from China, while Belgium said it will test wastewater from planes from China for new Covid variants.
\nChina has rejected criticism of its Covid data and said any new mutations may be more infectious but less harmful.
\n\u201cAccording to the political logic of some people in Europe and the United States, whether China opens or does not open is equally the wrong thing to do,\u201d state-run CCTV said in a commentary late on Monday.
\nEconomic concerns
\nAs Chinese workers and shoppers are falling ill, concerns mount about growth prospects in the world\u2019s second-largest economy, weighing on Asian stocks.
\nData on Tuesday showed China\u2019s factory activity shrank at a sharper pace in December as the Covid wave disrupted production and hurt demand.
\nDecember shipments from Foxconn\u2019s Zhengzhou iPhone plant, disrupted late last year by a Covid outbreak that prompted worker departures and unrest, were 90pc of the firm\u2019s initial plans, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
\nA \u201cbushfire\u201d of infections in China in coming months is likely to hurt its economy this year and drag on global growth, said the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.
\n\u201cChina is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic,\u201d warned analysts at Capital Economics.
\n\u201cThe authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major Covid wave will be soon.\u201d
\nMobility data suggested that economic activity was depressed nationwide and would likely remain so until the infection wave began to subside, they added.
\nChina\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the domestic tourism market saw 52.71 million trips during the New Year holiday, flat year-on-year and only 43pc of the 2019 levels, before the pandemic.
\nThe revenue generated was over 26.52 billion yuan ($3.84bn), up 4pc year-on-year but only about 35pc of the revenue created in 2019, the ministry said.
\nExpectations are higher for China\u2019s biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year, later this month, when some experts expect daily Covid cases to have already peaked in many parts of the country.
\nSome hotels in the southern tourist resort of Sanya are fully booked for the period, Chinese media reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing China\u2019s state media played down the severity on Tuesday of the Covid-19 wave surging over the country, with its scientists expected to give a briefing to the World Health Organisation on the evolution of the virus later in the day. China\u2019s abrupt U-turn on Covid controls on Dec 7, as well as the accuracy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-305284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n