China's Zhejiang battling 10 lakh Covid-19 cases daily, expected to double around New Year

China's abrupt U-turn on its strict zero-Covid policy following protests has raised global concerns of widespread infections among a vulnerable, undervaccinated population.

New Delhi: After cities like Qingdao and Dongguan each estimated tens of thousands of daily Covid-19 infections recently, China's Zhejiang, a big industrial province near Shanghai, on Sunday (December 25) said that it is battling around 10 lakh new daily cases, a number which is expected to double around New Year. 

"The infection peak is estimated to arrive earlier in Zhejiang and to enter a period of the elevated level around New Year's Day, during which the daily new infection number will be up to two million," the Zhejiang government said.

Zhejiang, which has a population of over 6.5 crores, said that among the 13,583 infections being treated in the province's hospitals, one patient had severe symptoms caused by coronavirus, while 242 cases of severe and critical conditions were caused by underlying diseases.

Visits to Zhejiang fever clinics hit 4,08,400 a day - 14 times normal levels - in the past week, a Zhejiang official said.

Daily requests to the emergency centre in Zhejiang's capital, Hangzhou, have also recently more than tripled on average from last year's level, state television reported on Sunday, citing an Hangzhou health official.

China is currently hit by the highly transmissible Omicron strain BF.7, which is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5 and has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible. It has a shorter incubation period and has a higher capacity to cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated.

According to various reports, China's healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and even retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help grass-root efforts.

An abrupt U-turn by China on its strict zero-Covid policy following protests has raised global concerns of widespread infections among a vulnerable, undervaccinated population.