A medical worker checks the IV drip of a patient lying on COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, China onJanuary 5 2023. Picture: REUTERSChinese drugmakers rushed to make anti-fever medicines and other treatments for Covid-19 on Thursday, after President Xi Jinping said he was worried about an influx of holiday travellers to rural areas ill-equipped to deal with sudden outbreaks.
However, that number excludes those who die at home, and some doctors in China have said they are discouraged from putting Covid-19 on death certificates. Health experts say China's official figures most likely do not reflect the true toll of the virus. China has relied on domestic vaccines to combat the pandemic, eschewing foreign-made ones, which some studies have suggested are more effective, while other foreign treatments for Covid-19 have been hard to come by in China.
“China’s Covid-19 prevention and control is still in a time of stress, but the light is ahead, persistence is victory,” Xi said on Wednesday in a holiday greetings message carried by state broadcaster CCTV.