E-Paper
Almost all of Beijing residents to get Covid by January end: What a study shows
Covid In China: The study reflects the rapid spread of China's Covid outbreak as infections rise after Beijing abruptly relaxed its ‘zero-Covid’ policy in December.
Nearly all of Beijing’s 22 million residents will be infected with Covid by the end of January, a new study found. About 92% of the people in Beijing will be infected by the end of January while almost 76% have already been infected by December 22, according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
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The study reflects the rapid spread of China's Covid outbreak as infections rise after Beijing abruptly relaxed its ‘zero-Covid’ policy in December. The study also found that the reproductive rate of the virus increased to 3.44 following the policy shifts, meaning one person with the virus can infect 3.44 others.
The rapid spread of Covid through China since Beijing decided to live with the virus last month has curbed economic activity in the country and spurred reports of hospitals and crematoriums becoming overwhelmed.
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Earlier, a top Chinese epidemiologist warned that the Covid wave will peak in China in the next two to three months. Zeng Guang, the former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also said that the Covid wave will have a massive impact in the rural areas of the country.
"Our priority focus has been on the large cities. It is time to focus on rural areas," Zeng Guang said as per Reuters adding that most people living in China's rural areas do not have access to medical facilities which could further exacerbate the Covid situation in the country.
