COVID-19 infections continue to decline in China

The Chinese mainland reported over 80,000 COVID-19-related deaths at hospitals from Dec 8 to Feb 9, as the numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths associated with the disease have been trending downward consistently this year, data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention show.

Out of the 83,150 fatalities reported, about 92 percent were caused by a combination of the COVID-19 disease and other preexisting illnesses, while the remainder were caused by respiratory failure induced by the disease.

On Feb 6, hospitals across the mainland reported 102 deaths at hospitals, down 97.6 percent from a peak recorded on Jan 4.

Reported infections across the mainland also peaked in late December and have been declining ever since.

The number of people testing positive for the virus in nucleic acid tests fell to 9,000 on Feb 6, compared with a high of 6.94 million on Dec 22.

During the same period, the number of people testing positive after taking rapid antigen tests dropped to 784 from a peak of 337,000.

The dominant strains on the mainland are BA.5.2 and BF.7.