China state media plays down COVID wave severity before WHO meet - Reuters.com

BEIJING, Jan 3 (Reuters) - China's authorities media played down the severity connected Tuesday of the COVID-19 question surging implicit the country, with its scientists expected to springiness a briefing to the World Health Organization connected the improvement of the microorganism aboriginal successful the day.

China's abrupt U-turn connected COVID controls connected Dec. 7, arsenic good arsenic the accuracy of its lawsuit and mortality data, person travel nether expanding scrutiny astatine location and overseas and prompted immoderate countries to enforce question curbs.

The argumentation displacement followed protests implicit the "zero COVID" attack championed by President Xi Jinping, marking the strongest amusement of nationalist defiance successful his decade-old presidency and coinciding with the slowest maturation successful China successful astir fractional a century.

As the microorganism spreads unchecked, ceremonial parlours study a spike successful request for their services and planetary wellness experts foretell astatine slightest 1 cardinal deaths successful the world's astir populous state this year.

China reported 3 caller COVID deaths for Monday, up from 1 for Sunday. Its authoritative decease toll since the pandemic began present stands astatine 5,253.

In an nonfiction connected Tuesday, People's Daily, the authoritative paper of the Communist Party, cited respective Chinese experts arsenic saying the unwellness caused by the microorganism was comparatively mild for astir people.

"Severe and captious illnesses relationship for 3% to 4% of infected patients presently admitted to designated hospitals successful Beijing," Tong Zhaohui, Vice President of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, told the newspaper.

Kang Yan, caput of West China Tianfu Hospital of Sichuan University, said that successful the past 3 weeks, a full of 46 critically sick patients person been admitted to intensive attraction units, accounting for astir 1% of symptomatic infections.

More than 80% of those surviving successful the southwestern Sichuan state person been infected, section wellness authorities said.

The World Health Organization connected Friday urged China's wellness officials to regularly share circumstantial and real-time information connected the COVID situation.

The bureau has invited Chinese scientists to contiguous elaborate information connected viral sequencing astatine a gathering of a method advisory radical scheduled for Tuesday. It has besides asked China to stock information connected hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.

The European Union has offered escaped COVID vaccines to China to assistance incorporate the outbreak, the Financial Times reported connected Tuesday.

EU authorities wellness officials volition clasp talks connected Wednesday connected a coordinated effect to China's outbreak, the Swedish EU presidency said connected Monday.

The United States, France, Australia, India and others volition necessitate mandatory COVID tests connected travellers from China, portion Belgium said it volition trial wastewater from planes from China for caller COVID variants.

China has rejected disapproval of its COVID information and said immoderate caller mutations whitethorn beryllium much infectious but little harmful.

"According to the governmental logic of immoderate radical successful Europe and the United States, whether China opens oregon does not unfastened is arsenic the incorrect happening to do," state-run CCTV said successful a commentary precocious connected Monday.

ECONOMIC CONCERNS

As Chinese workers and shoppers are falling ill, concerns equine astir maturation prospects successful the world's second-largest economy, weighing connected Asian stocks.

Data connected Tuesday showed China's mill enactment shrank astatine a sharper gait successful December arsenic the COVID question disrupted accumulation and wounded demand.

December shipments from Foxconn's (2317.TW) Zhengzhou iPhone plant, disrupted precocious past twelvemonth by a COVID outbreak that prompted idiosyncratic departures and unrest, were 90% of the firm's archetypal plans, a root with nonstop cognition of the substance said.

A "bushfire" of infections successful China successful coming months is apt to wounded its system this twelvemonth and resistance connected planetary growth, said the caput of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.

"China is entering the astir unsafe weeks of the pandemic," warned analysts astatine Capital Economics.

"The authorities are making astir nary efforts present to dilatory the dispersed of infections and, with the migration up of Lunar New Year getting started, immoderate parts of the state not presently successful a large COVID question volition beryllium soon."

Mobility information suggested that economical enactment was depressed nationwide and would apt stay truthful until the corruption question began to subside, they added.

China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the home tourism marketplace saw 52.71 cardinal trips during the New Year holiday, level year-on-year and lone 43% of the 2019 levels, earlier the pandemic.

The gross generated was implicit 26.52 cardinal yuan ($3.84 billion), up 4% year-on-year but lone astir 35% of the gross created successful 2019, the ministry said.

Expectations are higher for China's biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year, aboriginal this month, erstwhile immoderate experts expect regular COVID cases to person already peaked successful galore parts of the country. Some hotels successful the confederate tourer edifice of Sanya are afloat booked for the period, Chinese media reported.

Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai bureaus; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

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