Sébastien Le Belzic (in Beijing) with AFP 10:18 a.m., December 22, 2022

No new deaths from Covid-19 have been reported in China, according to the official version of Xi Jinping's regime.

Except that in fact, the number of contaminations exploded and in ten days only 130 new sub-variants of Omicron were discovered in the country.

In the region, there are concerns about a spread.

No new deaths from Covid-19 were reported by China on Wednesday, after a controversial change in methodology for identifying cases there and despite an unprecedented wave of contamination faced by the World Health Organization (WHO), " very concerned", calls on him to accelerate the vaccination of the most vulnerable.

Since 2020, the Chinese government has imposed strict health restrictions, in the name of a so-called “zero Covid” policy which has made it possible to protect those most at risk and those who are poorly vaccinated.

But the government abruptly ended most of these measures in early December amid growing public exasperation and a huge impact on the economy.

The number of cases has since exploded, raising fears of high mortality among the oldest.

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China's neighboring countries fear tourists

China's neighbors like Japan and South Korea will be the first affected.

They dread seeing hordes of sick Chinese tourists flocking to the country as the Lunar New Year festivities approach in just one month.

According to some estimates, 60% of Chinese will be infected by then, with already the worrying appearance of 130 sub-variants of Omicron.

"China has a very large population, and large-scale infections in such a short time not only impact people's lives, but can also lead to the emergence of new mutant strains. We hope that infections do not increase too much. quickly because it could strain medical resources," said a chief epidemiologist in Beijing.

Quarantine at the borders could disappear as early as January

The number of patients is doubling every day, which does not seem to worry the government too much, which has lifted all the restrictions.

No more need for a health pass to travel or to go to a restaurant and quarantine at the borders could even disappear as of January.