Some in China return to regular activity after COVID-19 infections

China’s biggest holiday, Lunar New Year, begins on Jan 21 this year, when the railway network is expected to carry 5.5 million passengers, state broadcaster CCTV has said.

Amid the expected surge of holiday travel, authorities at Tibet’s spectacular Potala Palace said it would open again for visitors from Jan 3, after shutting in August last year due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Some hotels in the tourist attraction of Sanya on the southern island of Hainan are already fully booked for Lunar New Year, media have said.

In recent days state media have sought to reassure the public that the COVID-19 outbreak was under control and nearing its peak.

More than 80 per cent of those living in the southwestern province of Sichuan have been infected, its Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.

But Monday’s one new COVID-19 death – flat with the previous day – among China’s population of 1.4 billion does not match the experience of other countries after they re-opened.

China’s official death toll of 5,250 since the pandemic began compares with more than 1 million in the United States. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, a city of 7.4 million, has reported more than 11,000 deaths.

Around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19, health data firm Airfinity, which is based in Britain, said last week.

Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 have probably reached 100,000, with infections at 18.6 million, it said.

Airfinity expects China’s COVID-19 infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13, with 3.7 million daily infections.

China has said it only counts deaths of COVID-19 patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

The relatively low death count is also inconsistent with surging demand reported by funeral parlours in several cities.

The lifting of curbs after November’s widespread protests, has overwhelmed hospitals and funeral homes, with public concern fuelled by scenes of people on intravenous drips by the roadside and queues of hearses outside crematoria.

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