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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Helen Davidson in Taipei

Eight in 10 people in China caught Covid since early December, say officials

Medical workers rescue a patient at a hospital in Meishan.
Before December 2022, the official Covid death toll in China stood at 5,000. Photograph: Reuters

About 80% of China’s population has been infected with Covid-19 since restrictions were lifted in early December, Chinese health authorities have said.

The figure, which would equate to about 1.2 billion people but cannot be confirmed by outside bodies, prompted some pandemic experts to estimate that more than 1 million may have died – far more than the government’s official tally of about 72,000.

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