Beijing [China], December 25 (ANI): Some 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 on a single day this week, UK-based Financial Times (FT) reported, as Beijing discontinued restrictions that had contained the virus since the start of the pandemic.

Chinese officials estimate about 250 million people were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter. The estimates, including 37 million people who were infected on Tuesday alone, were revealed by Sun Yang, a deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in a health briefing on Wednesday, the FT report said. During the closed-door briefing, Sun said that the rate of Covid’s spread in China was still rising and estimated that more than half of the population in Beijing and Sichuan were already infected.

On Sunday, China‘s National Health Commission, which used to issue the country’s COVID-19 case figures on a daily basis, stopped publishing the update, The Global Times reported. “China‘s National Health Commission (NHC) will stop publishing daily COVID-19 case data from Sunday. Instead, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release COVID-related info for study and reference,” NHC said in a statement.

On the website, the National Health Commission on Saturday gave the Covid case figures of Friday. China mainland reported 4,128 new cases of confirmed infections and no new death in the country. On December 23, 1,760 patients were released from the hospital after being cured and 28,865 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. The number of serious cases increased by 99.

Earlier, British-based health data firm Airfinity, said that the infections in China are likely to be more than one million a day with deaths at more than 5,000 a day. New modelling by Airfinity has examined data from China‘s regional provinces. The current outbreak is growing more rapidly in some regions than in others. Cases are currently rising much more quickly in Beijing and Guangdong.

“Using the trends in regional data our team of epidemiologists has forecast the first peak to be in regions where cases are currently rising and a second peak driven by later surges in other Chinese provinces,” Airfinity said in a statement. (ANI)

Multiple regions across China face blood shortage amid rise in COVID-19 cases

Beijing [China], December 25 (ANI): Multiple regions across China have called on residents to actively donate blood under strict personal protection guidelines as they face a shortage of blood caused by many factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged cold weather, The Global Times reported.

Due to an increase in the number of hospital outpatient and surgical patients as well as optimised measures, Jinan with the most concentrated medical resources in the province is facing unprecedented pressure for blood collection and supply, the Shandong blood center said.

According to the Shandong blood center, the stock of blood group A and O have been kept at red alert level for several days. According to the center, it is predicted that the gap in clinical blood use will reach an all-time high along with the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays with clinical operation and medical blood transfusion likely to face severe difficulties due to the extreme shortage of blood, according to Global Times report.

The blood shortage has threatened the rescue of pregnant women and critically ill patients in some parts of the country, Global Times cited financial media platform Yicai.com. Guangdong province needs about 1,200 blood donors each day to meet the demand for clinical blood use.

The Guangzhou Blood Center said that the blood inventory has fallen to critically low levels due to an increase in COVID-19 cases as well as cold weather. The blood center even prepared rewards for donations, including N95 facing masks and antigen testing kits for those residents who want to donate their blood to people in need as a token of appreciation, as per the Global Times report.

On Wednesday, the Shangqiu region in China’s Henan province called on residents to donate blood in tackling the difficulties. Mianyang in Sichuan province and Jincheng in Shanxi province also called on residents to donate blood. Furthermore, China’s National Health Commission announced revised guidelines on blood donation on December 17. The new guidelines permitted close contacts, secondary contacts of COVID-19 cases and recovered COVID-19 patients to donate blood provided they meet certain conditions.

China’s National Health Commission (NHC), which used to issue the country’s COVID-19 case figures on a daily basis, starting Sunday stopped publishing the update, according to The Global Times. “The NHC will no longer release daily epidemic data from Sunday. China’s CDC will release relevant COVID-19 information for study and reference,” the NHC said in a brief statement.

The National Health Commission on Saturday gave the COVID case figures of Friday. China mainland reported 4,128 new cases of confirmed infections. On December 23, 1,760 patients were released from the hospital after being cured and 28,865 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. The number of serious cases increased by 99. (ANI)