Chinese President Xi Jinping urged officials on Monday to take steps to protect lives in his first public remarks on Covid-19 since Beijing dramatically loosened hardline containment measures this month.

Having mostly cut itself off from the rest of the world during the pandemic, China is now experiencing the planet's biggest surge in infections after abruptly lifting restrictions that torpedoed the economy.

Studies have estimated that around one million people could die over the next few months. Many in the population are now grappling with shortages of medicine, while emergency medical facilities are strained by an influx of undervaccinated elderly patients.

"At present, Covid-19 prevention and control in China are facing a new situation and new tasks," Xi said in a directive, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"We should launch the patriotic health campaign in a more targeted way... fortify a community line of defence for epidemic prevention and control, and effectively protect people's lives, safety and health," Xi said.

Hospitals and crematoriums across the country have been overflowing with Covid patients and victims, while China's National Health Commission on Sunday announced it would stop publishing daily nationwide infection and death statistics.

The decision to scrap the daily virus count comes amid concerns that the country's blooming wave of infections is not being accurately reflected in official statistics.

Beijing has admitted the scale of the outbreak has become "impossible" to track following the end of mandatory mass testing, as people are now not obliged to declare test results to authorities.

And last week, Beijing narrowed the criteria by which Covid-19 fatalities were counted -- a move experts said would suppress the number of deaths attributable to the virus.

The winter surge comes ahead of two major public holidays next month, in which millions of migrant workers are expected to travel to their hometowns to reunite with relatives.

Authorities are bracing for the virus to hit under-resourced rural areas hard, and on Monday called for the guaranteed supply of drugs and medical treatment during New Year's Day and the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which begins January 21.

The ruling Communist Party and State Council issued a notice calling on officials to "ensure the smooth and orderly adjustment and transition of epidemic prevention and control measures".

- Millions infected per day -

In recent days, health officials in the wealthy coastal province Zhejiang estimated that one million residents were being infected per day, while the coastal city of Qingdao predicted roughly 500,000 new daily infections and the southern manufacturing city of Dongguan eyed 250,000 to 300,000.

Unofficial surveys and modelling based on search engine terms suggest that the wave may have already peaked in some major cities, including Beijing and Chongqing.

A poll of over 150,000 residents of the southwestern province of Sichuan organised by disease control officials showed that 63 percent had tested positive for Covid, and estimated that infections peaked Friday.

Only six Covid deaths have been officially reported since Beijing unwound most of its restrictions earlier this month.

But crematorium workers interviewed by AFP have reported an unusually high influx of bodies, while hospitals have said they are tallying multiple fatalities per day, as emergency wards fill up..

The main funeral service centre in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou postponed all ceremonies until January 10 to focus on cremations due to the "large workload", according to a notice published online Sunday.

China's censors and mouthpieces have been working overtime to spin the decision to scrap strict travel curbs, quarantines and snap lockdowns as a victory, even as cases soar.

China to stop publishing daily Covid figures: NHC
Beijing (AFP) Dec 25, 2022 - China will no longer publish daily figures for Covid-19 cases and deaths, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, ending a practice that began in early 2020.

Cities across China are struggling with surging virus cases, resulting in pharmacy shelves stripped bare and overflowing hospitals and crematoriums, after Beijing suddenly dismantled its zero-Covid regime earlier this month.

The decision to scrap the daily virus count comes amid concerns that the country's blooming wave of infections is not being accurately reflected in official statistics.

Beijing last week admitted the scale of the outbreak has become "impossible" to track following the end of mandatory mass testing.

Last week, China also narrowed the criteria by which Covid-19 fatalities were counted -- a move experts said would suppress the number of fatalities attributable to the virus.

The NHC did not offer an explanation for its decision to stop releasing daily Covid data.

"From today, we will no longer publish daily information on the epidemic," the NHC said.

"The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish information about the outbreak for reference and research purposes," the NHC said, without specifying the type or frequency of information to be published.

-'Can you talk about it?' -

On Chinese social media, some users responded to the NHC's decision with cynicism, pointing to the increasing discrepancy between official statistics and infections within their families and social circles.

"Finally, they are waking up and realising they can't fool people anymore," wrote one user on the social network Weibo.

Another user said: "This was the best and biggest fake statistics manufacturing office in the country."

Under China's new definition of Covid deaths, only those who die of respiratory failure -- and not pre-existing conditions exacerbated by the virus -- are counted.

Only six Covid deaths have been reported since Beijing unwound most of its restrictions.

But crematorium workers interviewed by AFP have reported an unusually high influx of bodies, while hospitals have said they are tallying multiple fatalities per day, as wards fill up with elderly patients and they are forced to fill atriums with beds.

"Are there crematorium workers here? Are you overloaded? Can you talk about it?" another Weibo user wrote.

China's censors and mouthpieces have been working overtime to spin the decision to scrap strict travel curbs, quarantines and snap lockdowns as a victory, even as cases soar.

While state media has largely refrained from reporting the grimmer side of the exit plan, they have, to some extent, said hospitals are under stress from an influx of patients and a shortage of anti-fever drugs.

In a rare acknowledgement this week, a senior health official in the eastern city of Qingdao was quoted by the media as saying half a million people are being infected daily.

Health authorities in Zhejiang, a coastal province of around 65 million people south of Shanghai, said the number of daily infections now exceeded the one million mark.

And in Beijing, "a large number of infected people" were reported on Saturday.

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China's propaganda machine sputters in zero-Covid reversal
Beijing (AFP) Dec 24, 2022
China's state media is struggling and censors are working overtime as Beijing gropes for a coherent narrative in the wake of the sudden reversal of its hallmark zero-Covid policy. For years, the country's propaganda apparatus hailed zero-Covid as proof of the superiority of the Communist Party's authoritarian rule and the wisdom of powerful President Xi Jinping. But now its usual mouthpieces have been left to spin the decision to scrap strict travel curbs, quarantines and snap lockdowns as a vic ... read more