China Facing New Wave of COVID-19 Infections

A couple look at a mobile phone as they wait outside a restaurant for a table in a retail shopping area in Beijing, China, on April 18, 2023. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A new wave of COVID-19 infections in China is likely to peak in late June, when weekly cases could reach 65 million, the Chinese communist regime’s top health adviser has warned.

Chinese citizens have responded on social media that the wave of infection is already swelling.

Zhong Nanshan, China’s top respiratory disease specialist, made the prediction on the account of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) official media China News Agency. It was posted on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on May 22.

One Omicron-infected patient can infect more than 30 people, and the infection is difficult to prevent, Zhong said. The focus of COVID-19 prevention and control for the next wave should be on preventing severe symptoms, the doctor said.

There was a small peak in infections at the end of April and early May, and judging from various sources, “this is what we expected,” Zhong said.

Patients are cared for by relatives and medical staff as they are seen on beds set up in the atrium area of a busy hospital in Shanghai on Jan. 13, 2023. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The Epoch Times reported in late April that a large number of Chinese citizens posted on social media platforms about COVID-19 reinfections. However, the regime’s mouthpiece media outlet quickly denied that China was experiencing another outbreak.

Most COVID-19 infections in mainland China are currently caused by the XBB series mutant strains of Omicron. Chen Cao, a researcher at the Institute of Viral Diseases of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, recently told the media that in the first 10 days of May, the XBB series mutant strains accounted for 95.6 percent of imported cases.

Among the locally transmitted cases, the percentage of XBB series variants has increased to 83.6 percent in early May from 0.2 percent in February. The combined percentage of BA.5.2, BF.7, and BA.2 series variants infections was about 16.4 percent in early May.

Chen stated that compared to the early Omicron mutant strains, the XBB strains are more transmissible and have greater immune evasion properties.

New Wave Has Already Begun

Zhong’s most recent prediction caused a stir on Chinese social media. Netizens have responded that they are experiencing a wave of COVID-19.

“My brother-in-law said that their company has a total of seven floors of offices, and there is no one on one of the floors who went to work last week,” “Frosty White Rice,“ a social media novelist and influencer, said on Weibo. ”All of them tested positive for COVID-19, most of them are reinfections. Two of my aunties are reinfected as well.”

Other netizens also confirmed the new COVID-19 outbreak.

“Recently, our company has begun to have a wave of COVID-19 reinfection,” one post read.

Another said in a post, “All the doctors and nurses in the department were already reinfected with COVID-19, and have just recovered from the reinfection.”

The symptoms of this new round of infections are severe for some people, some netizens have stated.

“I am in great pain now,“ one patient posted. ”I had a high fever of 40 (Celsius) degrees (104F) for two days, and now I’m still having a low fever. My whole body is sore and weak. There isn’t any way to relieve the pain and soreness.”

A nurse views the lung X-rays of a COVID-19 patient at the Casalpalocco hospital south of Rome on Oct. 13, 2021. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr. Wang, a resident of Pudong in Shanghai, told The Epoch Times that he tested negative on May 21 but is now experiencing a sore throat and feeling unwell.

“I might be infected again, or already was. My wife tested positive yesterday and she has been having symptoms for more than a week. The leader of the company she works for still asked her to come to work and wear a mask.”

He added, “Many people in our office have tested positive, and they have gone home to rest for two days. If I tested positive, I am still going to work because we are not getting paid if we rest due to COVID-19 infection.”

He said that 20 percent of the population was said to have been infected but there haven’t been any official reports.

Mr. Zhao, another Shanghai citizen, says two family members of his who had never been infected before have now tested positive.

“They went to the hospital for treatment, but not effective,“ he told The Epoch Times on May 22. ”I also have symptoms. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic is resurging.”

Zhao said he was also infected with COVID-19 in late April, when he went to Beijing to petition against the local government. He returned to Shanghai on April 28.

“Our group of petitioners from Shanghai all tested positive for COVID-19 after we came back. We had been infected in Beijing and feeling sick there. The symptoms were very serious. I felt the pain caused by sore throat like being cut by a knife.

“I was bedridden with fever. It’s no use to take the regular medicines for this.”

Zhang Wenhong, China’s top virologist and director of China’s National Center for Infectious Diseases, also warned in late April at a conference that COVID-19 infections would reoccur after six months, when immunity gained from prior infections has worn out.

Xia Song and Luo Ya contributed to this report.