Chinese industrial hub reports one million Covid cases as country pays elderly nearly £60 to get jabbed
China’s Zhejiang, a big industrial province near Shanghai, is battling around a million new daily Covid-19 infections as the country ramps up its vaccination rate by trying to lure senior citizens to get jabbed in return for payment.
The country is witnessing an unprecedented surge in infections, with numbers expected to double in the Zhejiang province, according to the local government.
However, doubts are mounting among health experts and residents about Beijing’s statistics, which show no new Covid deaths reported for six days through Sunday as the virus is feared to be spreading largely unchecked.
The country stopped reporting asymptomatic infections and on Sunday also did not report daily figures, which the China CDC then published. Official figures show China’s total number of Covid deaths at 5,241.
Some experts have forecast between one million and two million deaths in China before the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, there are serious concerns over vaccination rates. More than 90 per cent of the Chinese population is vaccinated with indigenously made vaccines. However, only about two thirds of those over 80 have been jabbed, according to the National Health Commission.
Reports said many senior citizens are alarmed by stories of fevers, blood clots and other side effects.
“When people hear about such incidents, they may not be willing to take the vaccines,” Li Liansheng, 64, who had been vaccinated before he caught Covid, told the Associated Press.
In response, Chinese authorities are going door to door to offer vaccines to elderly, who are at most risk of hospitalisation if infected.
The Liulidun neighbourhood of the Chinese capital is promising people over 60 up to 500 yuan (nearly £60) to get a two-dose vaccination course and one booster.
China kept case numbers low for two years with a “zero-Covid” strategy that isolated cities and confined millions of people to their homes. Now, as it backs off that approach, it is facing the widespread outbreaks that other countries have already gone through.
Doctors say hospitals are overwhelmed with 5-6 times more patients than usual, mostly elderly.
Additional reporting by agencies
