China could see as many as 25,000 deaths a day from COVID-19 later in January, casting a shadow over the start of the first Lunar New Year festivities without pandemic restrictions.
Mortalities from the contagious respiratory illness will probably peak around Jan. 23, the second day of the annual holiday in the country of 1.4 billion, according to Airfinity Ltd., a London-based research firm that focuses on predictive health analytics. Daily infections will peak 10 days before at around 3.7 million cases, the researcher said.
China suddenly ended its COVID zero policy about a month ago, abandoning the strict testing and lockdown measures embraced by the world’s second-largest economy since the start of the pandemic almost three years ago. The resulting outbreaks have been difficult to gauge without an accurate count, forcing observers to rely on outside estimates and anecdotal evidence.
