China: As Covid spreads from cities to regional areas, citizens warned not to visit elderly relatives

Health authorities said this week the peak of infections had passed in several big provinces and cities including Beijing and Shanghai

PGurus Newsdesk

January 13, 2023

Health authorities said this week the peak of infections had passed in several big provinces and cities including Beijing and Shanghai

Avoid putting older relatives at risk for COVID-19, China urges citizens

People in China have been warned against travelling to visit their elderly relatives during the Lunar New Year holiday, as Covid spreads rapidly through cities and into regional and poorer areas, the media reported.

Prof Guo Jianwen, a member of the state council’s pandemic prevention team, urged people “don’t go home to visit them” if elderly relatives had not yet been infected, The Guardian reported.

Health authorities said this week the peak of infections had passed in several big provinces and cities including Beijing and Shanghai. But there are serious concerns for regional areas where health resources are more limited and older people are more likely to be unvaccinated.

“The situation in rural China is very murky,” said Chen Xi, an assistant professor specializing in ageing and public health at Yale University.

” We have strong reasons to believe rural China will get much worse as the spring festival approaches,” The Guardian reported.

There have been reports from people in rural areas across China of mass infections, deaths, and healthcare woes, including areas where authorities say infections are yet to peak, The Guardian reported. Villagers in Guangdong province reported shortages of medication and oxygen supplies.

The holiday period, which begins on January 21, was supposed to be a return to festivities and travel after the lifting of most restrictions in December but instead it is coinciding with a wave of infections.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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