His city Beijing “temporary herd immunity” has been achieved and the outbreak of Covid-19 cases is coming to an end, a local official said today, in a sign that the pandemic’s unprecedented wave in China fights

The number of cases has skyrocketed since the government abruptly ended its “zero Covid” policy in December. However, it is difficult to give an accurate estimate, since official data reflect only a small part of the real number of sick and dead people.

Some signs, however, show that the spread of the disease is slowing down. According to the authorities, the number of deaths due to Covid-19 fell by almost 80% last week compared to the beginning of January.

Wang Quanyi, deputy director of the Beijing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Chinese reporters today that the capital of 22 million has “achieved the temporary herd immunity that protects it.”

“This wave of infections has already passed its peak and is now on the decline,” he added. In his assessment, the city is “at the stage of sporadic infections” and the virus poses a “relatively low risk of transmission.”

The number of people admitted to Beijing’s major hospitals with flu-like illness dropped by 40 percent from Jan.

Source: APE/MEB