The Covid-19 epidemic in China has entered a period of low infection with new cases steadily declining, senior officials of the National Health Commission (NHC) said. Prevention work in rural areas remains the top priority following the end of the Spring Festival period. Fu Wei from the NHC said that since December 21, 2022, fever and general clinics in town- and community-level medical institutes have seen a decline in Cases from the previous rising trend. The epidemic peaked in China in late December and by late January 2023, the overall nationwide spread of the virus had decreased. No increase in Covid cases emerged in rural areas during the Spring Festival holidays. According to the Ministry of Transport, 226 million trips were made during the holiday, a year-on-year increase of 71.2%, but lower than in the same period of 2019. According to National Immigration Administration (NIA), 2.87 million cross-border trips were made during the holiday, including 1.43 million inbound trips and 1.44 million outbound trips, a 120.5% year-on-year increase.
An official from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Beijing CDC) said that the capital's Covid-19 infection is drawing to a close, thanks to temporary immunity built during the infection peak. The official also said Beijing is set to conduct an investigation of the serum antibody levels of the population during February and March for reference for future Covid-19 control. A total of roughly 5,000 people will be randomly chosen in all of Beijing's sub-districts, requiring information on their nucleic acid and vaccination status, to complete the investigation. From January 23 to 29, the number of patients with flu-like symptoms at key Beijing hospitals fell 40.87% week-on-week. It is estimated that 80% of the capital's population was infected during the recent Covid wave, thus robust hybrid immunity generated by natural infection and vaccines has already been formed. The dominant strains of Covid in Beijing are BF.7 and BA.5.2.
Beijing health authorities released specific rules on experiments involving Covid-19 and banned any activities without regulatory approval. Activities such as coronavirus cultivation, experiments on animal infection, and nucleic acid testing can only be carried out with the approval of the National Health Commission (NHC) or Beijing Municipal Health Commission. Special storerooms shall be set up to store Covid-19 strains and samples and those storerooms should be guarded by at least two persons and have monitoring equipment installed. This latest notice released by the Beijing Municipal Health Commission is part of the NHC's effort to strengthen biosafety in laboratories. In 2021, China enacted the Biosecurity Law to further increase safety in biolabs.
Given the experience of other regions and countries, there will be no wide infection after a peak for three months, but as time goes by and the efficiency of vaccines wanes, along with the appearance of new variants, a small round of infections may reappear. The prevention focus would be on improving developments of related medicines and expanding productivity, Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based medical expert, told the Global Times. Mass vaccination is another focus for the next level of prevention work, said Zhuang. China recorded 6,364 Covid-related deaths from January 20 to 26 – about half the number in the previous week. The number of Covid-19 deaths at hospitals peaked at around 4,270 on January 4, and fell consistently to less than 900 fatalities on January 23. But Shanghai infectious disease specialist Zhang Wenhong said in January that the country could see another wave in May and June.
On February 6 all border checkpoints between Hong Kong and mainland China reopened for quarantine-free travel, without quotas and Covid-19 tests on either side. Three land crossings closed to passengers for as long as three years reopened on February 6 – Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau and Heung Yuen Wai. The only people who still need a negative PCR test are those who have spent time outside Hong Kong, the mainland or Macao in the seven days before they plan to cross the border.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Covid-19 is still an international emergency, three years since it was first announced. Nonetheless, although the pandemic remains at the WHO's highest alert level, it is likely at a transition point. Statistics from the WHO show that worldwide more than 6 million people lost their lives in the pandemic.
China will stop accrediting foreign diplomas and degrees obtained through online courses starting from the spring semester this year as foreign countries have opened their borders, according to the Ministry of Education’s Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange. Since 2020 the Center has accredited diplomas obtained by studying online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It encourages students to return to their universities as soon as possible. Students having difficulties getting visas and booking flights can take online courses temporarily while the procedures are finished.
This overview is based on reports by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily, Global Times and South China Morning Post.
