Cities brace for surge in COVID infections

Cities nationwide are bracing for peaks of COVID-19 infections by adding critical-care beds and expanding the capacity of fever clinics ahead of the Chinese New Year travel rush in January.

The preparations came after central authorities cut many testing and isolation requirements in November in an attempt to coordinate economic growth with control of outbreaks of the highly contagious, yet less lethal, Omicron subvariants.

Health authorities in Jiangxi province have said infections will reach a climax in early January, adding that there could be other peaks as people travel late next month for Spring Festival celebrations. They warned the wave of infections would last three months and estimate about 80 percent of the province's 45 million residents will be infected.