Omicron-linked reinfection rate surges as virus spreads across China

China is seeing a wave of re-infections.

Beijing, Jan 16: Omicron and its subvariants, which are highly contagious that may allow them to evade the vaccine and immunity, have made reinfections an unfortunate but common part of life. However, in China ever since the government abruptly abandoned its stringent anti-virus controls following widespread protests against the Zero-Covid policy, Beijing has witnessed a massive spike in reinfections.

According to reports, a healthcare worker in Shijiazhuang city said that doctors are now seeing a wave of secondary infections in the country of 1.4 billion people, due to the damage wreaked by COVID-19 on the immune system.

"We're hearing about a very large number of reinfections in out-of-town areas, due to the damage done to the immune system by the first infection with COVID-19," Li said. "People are presenting with pain that is five to 10 times worse than what they had during their first infection.

However, a user uploaded an audio on the social media site where the family member of a COVID-19 patient revealed that everyone in the hospital is on their second infection.''The situation has changed a bit ... I'm at the hospital today, and beds are in short supply. Everyone here is on their second COVID-19 infection."

Another doctor Chen who is a resident of Hunan, said he is seeing a high proportion of severe disease in reinfected elderly people with underlying health problems. "There is a high proportion of severe cases among reinfected elderly people with high blood sugar, high blood pressure, heart and kidney disease, emphysema, asthma and other underlying diseases," he said, as reported by Radio Free Asia.

"Some data show that around 100,000 people out of three million cases were reinfections, which is about 3%," Chen said.

China reports huge rise in Covid-related deaths

Earlier on Saturday, China reported roughly around 60,000 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals across the country over the last 30 days, amid criticism from the WHO that Beijing was heavily under-reporting the magnitude of the pandemic.

The death toll included 59,938 COVID-19 related deaths at hospitals from December 8 to January 12, the National Health Commission said on Saturday, official media here reported.

Jiao Yahui, director of the National Health Commission's medical affairs department, said medical institutes recorded 5,503 deaths as a result of respiratory failure triggered by COVID-19 infections and 54,435 fatalities with underlying conditions, such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases, combined with COVID-19.

The worst is over

Meanwhile, public health expert believes the worst is over for the country. Dr Liang Wanian , who had played a key role in designing China's COVID-19 response policies, believes that the worst of this round of outbreak in China has passed. "The prevalent variants in China are BF2, and BF7. For the overall situation, the first wave infections are decreasing now in China, the number of severe cases is plateauing. It's fair to say we have weathered the worst of this round. This shows the strength of our medical system. But it is still an extremely tense period, including for vulnerable groups and rural areas."