China braces for new Covid wave with up to 65 million weekly cases

China is facing a new wave of Covid-19 infections that could see as many as 65 million cases per week by the end of June. This alarming prediction was made by respiratory disease specialist Zhong Nanshan at a biotech conference in Guangzhou. Zhong’s estimate provides a rare glimpse into the potential impact of the latest omicron variant, XBB, which has been fueling a resurgence in cases across China since late April.

According to a Bloomberg report, XBB is expected to result in 40 million infections per week by the end of May before peaking at 65 million a month later. This comes nearly six months after Beijing dismantled its Covid Zero curbs, allowing the virus to spread rapidly among the country’s 1.4 billion residents. In the wake of this pivot to living with the virus, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention stopped updating its weekly statistics earlier this month, leaving many questions about the true impact of Covid-19 in China.

Zhong’s estimate suggests that this latest wave of infections will be more muted compared to the previous wave that hit China late last year and into January. At that time, a different omicron sublineage likely infected 37 million people every day, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums and causing residents to scramble for limited supplies of fever medicine.