China should guide the public to develop health knowledge and good personal hygiene habits as President Xi Jinping fleshes out the country’s move away from strict Covid Zero.
(Bloomberg) — China should guide the public to develop health knowledge and good personal hygiene habits as President Xi Jinping fleshes out the country’s move away from strict Covid Zero.
The nation’s health campaign is people centric and should be more targeted, Xi said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Premier Li Keqiang urged efforts to ensure the country meets demand for medical treatment and Covid prevention supplies, said Xinhua.
China has been dismantling the rigorous Covid suppression policy it had in place since the onset of the pandemic with infections now sweeping the nation of 1.4 billion.
State media is urging citizens to take primary responsibility for their own health amid mass outbreaks with Xi remaining largely silent on the shift.
The National Health Commission said on Sunday it will stop publishing daily Covid surveillance data, making it difficult to track the spread of virus.
Daily infections may have reached 37 million in a single day last week, the commission estimated, according to minutes from an internal meeting confirmed by people involved in the discussions. If accurate, the figure would eclipse the previous daily global record of about 4 million, set in January.
China is likely have 1 million Covid infections and 5,000 virus deaths each day as it grapples with what is expected to be the biggest outbreak the world has ever seen, Bloomberg News reported earlier, citing research.
The country needs to ensure medical treatments for severe Covid cases and the maintenance of normal medical order during the New Year and Spring Festival, Xinhua reported separately, citing a central government notice on work arrangements during the holidays
–With assistance from Ocean Hou.
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