Covid in China: deaths and severe cases down almost 90 per cent since infection peak, CDC says
- Chinese health officials also record sharp decrease in Covid-19 patients at hospitals and fever clinics since illness wave crested in January
- However, authorities continue to monitor situation as Lunar New Year holiday period wraps up and new variants emerge
In a report published on Wednesday, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there were 434 Covid-related deaths on Monday, down 89.8 per cent since peaking on January 4 when there were 4,273 deaths per day.
The number of new severe Covid-19 cases among hospital patients dropped to 14,000 on January 30, down 89.3 per cent from a peak of 128,000 on January 5.
Since December, China has scrapped mass testing and the release of daily Covid-19 case numbers. The National Health Commission recorded almost 60,000 Covid-related deaths between December 8 and January 12.
Wednesday’s CDC report showed that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have decreased significantly across the country, from 150 million on December 9 to 7.54 million on January 1 and just 974,000 on Monday. Positive rates also fell to 2.5 per cent on Monday from a peak of 29.2 per cent on December 25.