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China: COVID-19 cases low "now"

TOKYO, Jan 30 (KUNA) -- China's National Health Commission on Monday said that COVID-19 cases are at a low level in the country, with numbers nationwide gradually decreasing, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.
"Fever clinic patients, hospital outpatients and emergency cases in township clinics and community health centers increased after Dec. 21, when monitoring began, and have since decreased, with numbers now dropping steadily," commission official Fu Wei was quoted as saying at a press conference in Beijing held by the State Council joint COVID-19 prevention and control mechanism.
Chen Cao, a research fellow at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also said that no dominant novel coronavirus sub-variants other than BA.5.2 and BF.7, which are currently predominant, have been detected in China so far.
Last week, the center said the number of COVID-19 infections across China reached its peak around December 22, with new cases reaching 6.94 million per day. Based on the reported positive cases through mass testing, the number of infections dropped to the lowest point of 15,000 on January 23, the center has said in a report on the national epidemic situation. Deaths in hospitals reached their daily peak of 4,273 on January 4, which has been continuously declining, with the number falling to 896 on January 23, down 79 percent from the peak, according to the center. (end) mk.hb