Updates on China’s COVID Situation (January 14, 2023): 900 Million Chinese Infected

(Minghui.org) Several renowned scholars have recently assessed the COVID situation in China. One of them estimated that about 900 million Chinese residents had been infected since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ended its three-year-long zero-COVID policy on December 7, 2022. Many have died of the virus, including high-ranking government officials, but the regime continues to cover up the real COVID information. Some health experts are warning of reinfection.

Research Results

Ma Jingjing, Assistant Professor of the National School of Development at Peking University in Beijing, and her colleagues published a report about the recent wave of COVID at the Economic Observer Network on January 13. In the report, they performed a systematic analysis of the transmission and symptoms by geographic areas. They estimated that many areas in China had reached a COVID peak between December 7 and 20. As of January 11, 2023, the accumulative infection rate in China was 64% (900 million people), with three western provinces registering the highest infection rate: Gansu (91%), Yunnan (84%), and Qinghai (80%).

Ma said their estimates were derived by using COVID search trends in China as input in their data modeling.

Zeng Guang, former chief of epidemiology at China CDC, said on January 12 that the latest COVID outbreak came in waves, hitting Beijing first before spreading to other large cities, including Guangzhou (in Guangdong Province), Chengdu (in Sichuan Province), and Chongqing. Although the pandemic had reached its peak in Beijing, the peak of severe cases has yet to hit the city.

In some areas, the peak has just started while in the countryside it has not begun. Zeng predicted the peak of infection nationwide would last two or three months, while the peak of severe cases would last longer.

A survey was conducted among government employees in Weifang City of Shandong Province in early January 2023. About 85% of them had been infected. Similarly, a food processing plant found 29 out of its 35 employees had been infected as of mid-December 2022. The plant has stopped normal operation since then.

Deaths of Academics, Government Employees and Celebrities

Li Xiaojiang, the chief oncologist at the First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, died at 42 on January 10, 2023.

Feng Tianyu, Director of the Traditional Chinese Culture Research Center and senior professor of humanities and social sciences at Wuhan University in Hubei Province, died of COVID on January 12. He was known to “study” the Chinese culture through the lens of Marxism, including attacking Confucius, and had received numerous national awards.

Tan Yuquan, a professor at the First Bethune Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin Province, died in Changchun City on January 12.

Chen Peisi, a renowned Chinese comedian, said his mother died of COVID on January 13.

Many police officers have been reported to have died of COVID recently, with ages between 37 and 58. They include Pu Xiaorong (58, Deputy Director of the Forest Police Department in Gansu Province, died on December 30), Lu Xiaoming (50, Staff Sergeant Class II from Tianning Police Department in Jiangsu Province, died on December 21), Ye Jingcai (41, political head of Xixiating Police Station in Zhoukou City of Henan Province, died on December 31), and Qi Weiyun (37, Staff Sergeant Class IV from Chuxiong Police Department in Yunnan Province, died on January 12).

“If You Tell the Truth, They Will Kill You”

Zhou Xiaozheng, a retired professor at Renmin University currently living in the U.S., was recently interviewed by RFA (Radio Free Asia). He told the reporter that he was fired by the university in December 2021 for being outspoken. He questioned the school about how could he be fired when he’s already retired, but received no reply. He said that many people in Beijing had recently died of COVID, but the cause of their deaths was usually listed as “pre-existing conditions.” “If you tell the truth, they [CCP officials] will kill you,” remarked Zhou.

One official in charge of crematories in Langfang City of Hebei Province said his agency had been contacted by many Beijing residents to help cremate the bodies of their family members who recently died of COVID. They said the number of deaths in Beijing was so high that many local crematories have been booked all the way to the second half of 2023. They also asked the official not to share the information with others.

This official said Langfang crematories already had difficulty cremating local bodies due to the recent rise in infections and deaths. The few counties under the administration of Langfang had also received similar requests from Beijing and some Beijing residents offered to pay 5,000-8,000 yuan, higher than the prevailing cremation fees in those counties. Many rural residents in the Langfang region villages buried their family members’ bodies instead of cremating them. Due to a large number of deaths, however, they had to wait up to five days to hold funerals.

Reinfection

One doctor from Shijiangzhuang City of Hebei Province told RFA on January 13 that many patients had experienced reinfection about one month after recovering from the initial infection. This has happened in Beijing, Shandong, Sichuan, and other regions.

Zhang Boli, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering who specializes in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, also warned the general public recently of the risk of reinfection. Compared to other variants, omicron tends to trigger more breakthrough infections and reinfections. The risk of complications is higher with such reinfected patients. The complications could include pulmonary, cardiovascular, diabetic, gastrointestinal, and neurological diseases.