Beijing Covid wave ‘peaked’ but China months away from tsunami of infections

Hong Kong : With nearly 250 million now infected without 20 days, infections may have already peaked in Beijing and could do so in Shanghai soon but it will take months before the country can emerge from the “tsunami of infections sweeping across big cities”, the media reported on Saturday.

According to the South China Morning Post, citing health experts, Covid-19 is spreading in China so swiftly that infections might have already peaked in the capital and could do so in Shanghai in a week.

“I think the infections in Shanghai will peak in a week and after the peak the outbreak will continue for one to two more months,” said Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious diseases department at Fudan University.

About half of the population in Beijing and Sichuan province had been infected.

“Between 20 and 50 per cent of the people are estimated to be infected in Tianjin municipality, and the provinces of Hubei, Henan, Hunan, Anhui, Gansu and Hebei,” the report mentioned.

According to Ben Cowling, chair professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong’s school of public health, some cities like Beijing might have already passed their peak.

Multiple Omicron variants are now circulating in China.

BF.7 is by far the most transmissible variant with a reproductive number of between 10 to 18.6 in Beijing, according to scientists.

The number for the Delta variant, which was dominant last year, is 5 to 6.

Meanwhile, hospitals and “medical solutions providers” offering internet consultations have been swamped with inquiries.