"GETTING SICK"
In Beijing, which has emerged as the main infection hot spot, commuters, many coughing into their masks, were back on the trains to work and streets were coming back to life after being largely deserted last week.
Streets in Shanghai, where COVID transmission rates are catching up with Beijing's, were emptier, and subway trains were only half-full.
"People are staying away because they are sick or they are scared of getting sick, but mostly now, I think it’s because they are actually sick,” said Yang, a trainer at a nearly empty Shanghai gym.
Top health officials have softened their tone on the threat posed by the disease in recent weeks, a U-turn from previous messaging that the virus had to be eradicated to save lives even as the rest of the world opened up.
They have also been playing down the possibility that the now predominant Omicron strain could evolve to become more virulent.
"The probability of a sudden large mutation ... is very low," Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease specialist, told a forum on Sunday in comments reported by state media.
Nevertheless, there are mounting signs the virus is buffeting China's fragile health system.
Cities are ramping up efforts to expand intensive care units and build fever clinics, facilities designed to prevent the wider spread of contagious disease in hospitals.
In the past week, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wenzhou announced they had added hundreds of fever clinics, some in converted sports facilities.
The virus is also hammering China's economy, expected to grow 3 per cent this year, its worst performance in nearly half a century. Workers and truck drivers falling ill are slowing down output and disrupting logistics, economists say.
A World Economics survey showed on Monday China's business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013.
Weaker industrial activity in the world's top oil importer has capped gains for crude prices and driven copper lower.
China kept benchmark lending interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive month on Tuesday.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS1pbnN0YWxsLWhvc3BpdGFsLWJlZHMtY292aWQtMTktc3VyZ2UtY29uY2Vybi1hYnJvYWQtMzE1Njg2MdIBAA?oc=5
2022-12-20 04:41:00Z
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