A new wave of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, primarily driven by the XBB sub-lineage of the B11529 omicron strain, has hit mainland China. The communist country has been seeing an increase of COVID-positive people since April.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of June 11, there were 2,777 severe COVID-19 infections and 164 deaths. It noted that all recorded cases were caused by the XBB sub-lineage of omicron – with the top three strains identified as XBB.1.9, XBB.1.5 and the Arcturus XBB.1.16 variant.
According to the Epoch Times, several doctors in different hospitals were among those who suffered. A physician at the Beijing Anzhen Hospital named Dr. Bai posted on Chinese social media that he had been reinfected with COVID-19. Bai and a director of the hospital he work at, who was suffering severe symptoms, were both infected by their patients.
Meanwhile, a doctor in Heilongjiang province with the pseudonym Li Yu said: "There are a lot of people being reinfected with COVID-19 and hospitalized. Some elderly people died after being infected." (Related: Asia braces for new wave of coronavirus infections, more countries to see spikes in caseloads.)
Another physician named Dr. Yu from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine put in his two cents on the severity of China's COVID-19 situation in an online article. This severity, he pointed out, is reflected in the increasing number of patients visiting fever clinics. Yu emphasized that individuals with low immunity, advanced age or underlying health conditions are more susceptible to infection and the development of pneumonia.
According to the Epoch Times, the actual number of people infected in the new wave of COVID-19 remains unclear as the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has consistently concealed its true scale. The CCP has also implemented draconian lockdowns and other measures in line with its zero-COVID policy, which it later dropped.
Top doctor predicted outbreak in May
Back in May, China's top respiratory disease specialist Dr. Zhong Nanshan predicted that a new wave of COVID-19 infections is likely to peak in late June. He added that weekly COVID-19 cases in the mainland could reach 65 million in that period.
According to Zhong, one patient infected with the omicron strain can infect more than 30. With the infection difficult to stem, he remarked that the focus of COVID-19 prevention and control for the next wave should be on preventing severe symptoms.
"This is what we expected," Zhong remarked in response to a small peak in infections at the end of April and early May.
Even those infected with COVID-19 decried the different symptoms they experienced. One resident of Shanghai's Pudong district said his father developed "white lung" and died after contracting COVID-19. A Fuzhou resident named A. Liang said "the new wave of infections has been very serious in the past month or so," adding that while the symptoms "are not as severe as the first wave," the disease nevertheless remains "very contagious."
A woman with the pseudonym Wang Yi contracted COVID-19 for the first time and experienced severe symptoms. She hasn't recovered from the infection after more than 20 days. Meanwhile, a woman identified only as Liao from Jiangsu province said she has been experiencing severe symptoms ever since testing positive for COVID-19 on June 12.
"Many COVID-19 patients are having intravenous treatment in the hospital," Liao said. "This virus is terrifying. It is an invisible killer, and people are having lingering symptoms after being infected."
Head over to Pandemic.news for more stories about the resurgence of COVID-19 in China.
Watch this video explaining why the omicron XBB 1.5 variant is more likely to infect fully vaccinated persons.
This video is from the AxeTruth channel on Brighteon.com.
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