A senior health official said that around half a million people in a single Chinese city are being infected with Covid-19 every day, reported AFP. He added that the country’s wave of infections is not being reflected in official statistics.
The remark was quickly censored by China.
Reversing from its strict containment strategy, China rapidly dismantled its zero-Covid strategy, doing away with snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines, and travel curbs earlier this month.
The citizens are struggling as the rising Covid cases have emptied pharmacy shelves and filled hospital wards, reported AFP.
Tracking the caseload has virtually become impossible due to the end of strict testing mandates. Chinese authorities have also modified the definition of a Covid death which, experts say, is an attempt to reduce the number of fatalities.
A news outlet operated by the ruling Communist Party on Friday reported the municipal health chief Ba Tao as saying that the eastern city was seeing "between 490,000 and 530,000" new Covid cases a day.
According to the AFP, Ba Tao said that the coastal city of around 10 million people was "in a period of rapid transmission ahead of an approaching peak." He added that the infection rate would increase by another 10 percent over the weekend.
The report was shared by several news outlets but appeared to have been edited by Saturday morning to remove the case figures, AFP report said.
China's National Health Commission said Saturday that 4,103 new domestic infections were recorded nationwide the previous day, with no new deaths.
Chinese government has been keeping a tight grip on country’s media with online censors on content which are politically sensitive.
According to AFP, most government-run publications have downplayed the severity of the country's exit wave.
But some media outlets have hinted at ongoing crisis including the shortages of medicine and hospitals beds. However, the reportage over actual case numbers remains rare.