China’s National Health Commission estimates that as many as 37 million people have been infected with Covid-19 in a single day. According to the agency, some 238 million Chinese would have been infected in the first three weeks of December, or 18% of the population.

As reported by Bloomberg, which cites people involved in the deliberations, the data have been provided by the Health Commission and represent a daily record of contagions, much higher than the 4 million recorded in January 2022 worldwide.

This explosion of contagions is due to the reduced restrictions being applied by the Chinese government to contain the virus, due on the one hand to the population’s weariness, the lack of herd immunity, and on the other hand to the need to boost economic growth, which threatened to stagnate due to the ‘zero Covid’ policies applied until a few weeks ago.

Almost 250 million people in China may have caught Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, according to an internal estimate from the nation’s top health officials, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times reported. https://t.co/OAmavrFxhy

— CNN (@CNN) December 24, 2022

Thus, the communist government has reduced restrictions, forced by circumstances, and favored by the fact that the lethality of the Omicron variant is much lower than previous ones, as has been demonstrated in the rest of the world.

In any case, it remains to be seen what the impact of this explosion of contagions will be on the Chinese economy in the short term. According to agency estimates, more than half of the residents of Sichuan province in southwest China and the capital, Beijing, have been infected.

For the time being, it is not possible to quantify exactly the number of daily infections and deaths caused by the virus, as the new parameters approved by the authorities prevent the compilation of accurate statistics. As a general rule, only deaths caused by COVID-19 pneumonia will be counted.

Government censorship of international media and tight control of local media make it impossible to know the exact number of deaths, as well as the exact impact on economic activity.

Although Bloomberg reports that hospitals in major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have been overwhelmed by a sudden increase in patients, and deaths.

Shanghai Christmas market today. Where are the Western journalists and "China watcher" loonies? #COVID #Beijing #ChinaCovidCases pic.twitter.com/7dDgmJvZ27

— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) December 23, 2022

On the other hand, some posts can be seen on Twitter denying the situation and publishing videos of an alleged “normalcy” in supposed Christmas markets in China, especially Shanghai.

-Thailand News (TN)