China braces for Covid-19 wave as new Omicron variant BF.7 surges

Government ended strict controls to suppress the virus earlier this month

Medical staff wearing PPE wait to assist a patient at a Covid-19 clinic. Getty

Beijing is seeing a spike in cases of a new sub-variant of the Omicron strain of Covid-19, weeks after ending the strict “zero-Covid” strategy of mass lockdowns lasting weeks, and in some cases months, which came to define the country’s approach to containing the virus.

Little is known about the BF.7 sub-variant of the Omicron strain except that it is thought to be the most contagious so far. Multiple countries globally, including the US, India and Brazil are reporting cases.

Experts previously warned that the sharp rise in Covid cases in China could give an opportunity for new strains to emerge and scientists around the world have been on alert.

The World Health Organisation said the end of zero-Covid was not the main driver of cases, which had been spiking towards the end of the policy.

In Beijing, a city of over 21 million people, deputy director of the hospital's emergency department Han Xue said he was seeing 400 hospital admissions per day, four times the normal rate.

Speaking to state TV, he said that many of those who were ill were suffering from underlying health problems.

China was quick to vaccinate its population at the start of the pandemic but experts say uptake for booster shots for those aged over 80 is low, one reason why Beijing pursued its tough approach to containing the virus for so long.

On Thursday, a Shanghai hospital told its staff to prepare for a “tragic battle” with Covid-19 as it expects half of the city's 25 million people will get infected by the end of next week, while the virus sweeps through the country.

Infections in China are likely to be more than a million a day with deaths at more than 5,000 a day, a “stark contrast” from official data, British-based health data firm Airfinity said this week.

The Shanghai Deji Hospital, posting on its WeChat account late on Wednesday, estimated there were about 5.4 million positives in the city and that 12.5 million in China's main commercial hub will get infected by the end of the year.

“Christmas Eve, New Year's Day and the Lunar New Year are destined to be unsafe,” said the private hospital, which employs some 400 staff.

The post was no longer available on WeChat by Thursday afternoon. A person who answered the hospital's main phone line said they could not comment on the article.

Shanghai residents endured a two-month lockdown that ended on June 1, with many losing income and struggling to find basic necessities. Hundreds died and hundreds of thousands were infected during those two months.

On Thursday, many areas of Shanghai were almost as deserted as back then, with many residents isolating themselves and businesses forced to shut as staff fell ill.

“All our employees are sick,” said a supermarket worker surnamed Wang as he was shutting the doors. He said he hoped to re-open on December 30.

Despite the new infections, the last vestiges of the zero-Covid policy are being scrapped. China plans to cut quarantine requirements for overseas travellers in January, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Experts say China could face more than a million Covid deaths next year, given the relatively low full vaccination rates among its vulnerable elderly population.