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Up to 70% of Shanghai population infected with Covid: top doctor
The steep rise in infections came after years of hardline restrictions were abruptly loosened last month with little warning or preparation, and quickly overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.
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A worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) stands while residents undergo a health screening during a Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown in the Jing'an district in Shanghai on April 19, 2022. (AFP/Hector Retamal)
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senior doctor at one of Shanghai's top hospitals has said 70 percent of the megacity's population may have been infected with COVID-19 during China's huge surge in cases, state media reported Tuesday.
The steep rise in infections came after years of hardline restrictions were abruptly loosened last month with little warning or preparation, and quickly overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.
Chen Erzhen, vice president at Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai's Covid expert advisory panel, estimated that the majority of the city's 25 million people may have been infected.
"Now the spread of the epidemic in Shanghai is very wide, and it may have reached 70 percent of the population, which is 20 to 30 times more than (in April and May)," he told Dajiangdong Studio, owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.
Shanghai suffered a gruelling two-month lockdown from April, during which over 600,000 residents were infected and many were hauled to mass quarantine centres.
But now, the Omicron variant is spreading rampantly across the city and experts predict infections there will peak in early 2023.
In other major cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou, Chinese health officials have suggested that the wave has already peaked.
