China Likely To Reach 65Mln COVID-19 Infections Weekly - Epidemiologist

China is likely to reach 65 million infections per week during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 expected at the end of June, China's chief epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan has predicted

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2023) China is likely to reach 65 million infections per week during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 expected at the end of June, China's chief epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan has predicted.

"The peak of the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic in 2023 will be at the end of June, (the number of new cases) will be about 65 million per week," Zhong said at a biotech conference held on Monday in the southern Chinese city of Guangdong, according to the Pengpai newspaper.

In December, Beijing started to gradually ease its zero tolerance anti-COVID-19 restrictions.

Among other things, the authorities stopped indiscriminate PCR testing, allowed asymptomatic citizens or those with mild symptoms to isolate at home, lifted restrictions on online and offline purchases of antipyretics, and accelerated the vaccination of older people. On January 8, obligatory PCR tests and centralized isolation for people arriving in China were canceled.

In February, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee said that China had achieved a "decisive victory" in the prevention and control of COVID-19.