China’s flu infections rose while Covid cases continued to drop from a December peak after the nation eased pandemic restrictions.
(Bloomberg) — China’s flu infections rose while Covid cases continued to drop from a December peak after the nation eased pandemic restrictions.
The flu positivity rate jumped to 14.3% in the seventh week of 2023 from 3.4% previously, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly Covid surveillance report Saturday. The Covid positivity rate dropped further to 3.4% in the same week from 4.1%.
The number of Covid-related death at medical institutions fell to 7 in the seven-day period ending Feb. 23, with all of them dying from underlying diseases and none from respiratory failure. The number of Covid cases infected with omicron subvariants known as XBB in local transmission ticked up slightly to 6.
A number of schools across China halted classes earlier this week to stem the spread of Covid and other pathogens ranging from flu to the norovirus. Shanghai suspended in-person teaching in an elementary school class after four students were diagnosed with the flu and others developed similar symptoms, while eastern e-commerce hub Hangzhou introduced similar moves after some students tested positive for Covid on rapid antigen tests.
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