In his New Year’s speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping says that China has overcome “the most difficult challenges of all time” in the fight against COVID.
The statement is being noted as an unusual admission of the difficulties the country has been in recently. It is the first time the president has commented on the situation since the country abruptly ended its zero-contagion strategy earlier this month, according to Reuters.
– The epidemic is entering a new phase. There are still tough times ahead, but everyone is working hard and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
SPEECH: President Xi Jinping delivered a New Year’s address to the people on Saturday. Photo: Ju Peng
XI claims that the policy has followed the advice of scientists.
China has wavered on its zero-contagion strategy for three years. Now they have a rough road back to normal after lifting all restrictions. This has led to an infection wave of unimaginable dimensions.
Leaked documents from Chinese health authorities estimate that 250 million Chinese were infected with the coronavirus in the first three weeks of December.
Massive pressure on the hospitals
Pictures show long queues of hearses outside crematoria, and patients receiving oxygen treatment in the street outside hospitals, but the official death toll is only one death per day.
The British health data agency Airfinity claimed on Thursday that there are probably around 9,000 deaths per day.
ELDERLY: An elderly woman is admitted to a hospital in Beijing on New Year’s Eve. elderly patient is pushed along a corridor of the emergency ward at a hospital in Beijing, Saturday, Dec. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) Photo: Ng Han Guan
In Shanghai, the authorities have confirmed that they had 10 million cases of infection on 22 December. At the same time, they estimate that around 50,000 of the city’s 25 million inhabitants can be expected to need hospital treatment in the coming weeks.
China has already welcomed 2023, and now the Chinese hope that the time of quarantines and closed schools is over for good.
Deleted video
On New Year’s Eve, Netease News posted a video where ordinary Chinese talked about their difficulties in 2022. The video quickly went viral, but has since been removed.
NEW YEAR: People celebrate New Year’s Eve in Wuhan – three years after the start of the pandemic. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Photo: TINGSHU WANG
This arouses anger on the Chinese social media, Weibo.
– What a perverted world. You can praise the fake, but you can’t show the real life, writes one user.
The removal of the video suggests that Chinese authorities still see the handling of the pandemic as a sensitive issue.
The rapid increase in infections in China means that more and more governments around the world are introducing restrictions on visitors arriving by plane from China.
