COVID deaths in China could soar to 36,000 a day as millions head home for the Chinese New Year.
Experts have warned the country is in the midst of an “unfolding catastrophe” after leader Xi Jinping finally ditched his zero-Covid policy of draconian lockdowns.
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China is being gripped by a massive surge in Covid cases and it is feared the death toll could spiral.
The country has already this week admitted 60,000 people have died in just one month.
It marked a startling 1,000 per cent increase from China’s last official Covid death toll of 5,272 on January 8.
There are concerns, however, that is just a tenth of the real total as China said the “deaths related to Covid” occurred in hospitals – meaning even more could have died at home.
But with up to two billion trips set to be made as millions flock to railway stations and airports to get home for the Chinese New Year, experts have warned it could push the country to the brink.
Global health intelligence service Airfinity has chillingly forecast up to 36,000 people could die each day by January 26.
Analysts also predict cases could hit a whopping 4.8million daily, with 62million infections in the fortnight leading up to January 27.
Professor Minxin Pei believes China will “do its best” to conceal its death toll.
He told Nikkei Asia: “The government has strong incentives to hide the catastrophe that is unfolding in the wake of its chaotic reopening.
“It certainly has no wish to take the blame for the lack of preparation for the exit wave of infections that had been widely expected.”
The Chinese government has been repeatedly accused of covering up the true scale of the pandemic.
Shocking footage revealed Covid patients left in crowded hospital corridors, where some have been left to die.
Satellite images showed crematoriums totally overwhelmed, with reports of families queuing overnight for cremation slots and being forced to hold two-minute funerals.
Devastated mourners were even forced to burn their own dead loved ones as footage showed morgues packed with body bags and warehouses filled with coffins.
Doctors have also reportedly been urged not to write Covid-induced respiratory failure on death certificates.
According to a physician at a private hospital, medics have instead been told to name an underlying disease as the main cause, if the patient had one.
The worrying death toll rise and surge in infections come after China ditched its unpopular zero-Covid policy early in December.
The strategy was championed by President Xi Jinping and saw some of the world’s strictest lockdowns suffocate the nation for three years.
But after a wave of furious nationwide protests, China made a dramatic U-turn.
China’s sprawling countryside has been racing to beef up its hospitals as hundreds of millions of factory workers return to their families for the Lunar New Year.
Every year, Chinese people flood home via planes, trains, ferries and by car – sparking mass movement within China as well as from abroad.
Dubbed the world’s largest human migration,
China’s Ministry of Transport said the travel rush is expected to last 40 days – having kicked off on January 7.
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