Covid megawave in China could infect HALF of Shanghai's population by next week - 12.5m at risk

MORE than five million people in the Chinese city of Shanghai have contracted Covid and cases are expected to surge further in the wake of restrictions being lifted.

Coronavirus rules were eased in China just two week ago but staff at a Shanghai hospital have been told to prepare for a “tragic battle”.

Medical chiefs expect half of the city’s 25 million population will be infected with Omicron by the end of next week

The Shanghai Deji Hospital posted on its official WeChat account that it had estimated there were around 5.43 million positive cases in the city with another 12.5 million expected to be infected by the end of the year.

Official figures from China state their total number of deaths stands at 5,241 – just a fraction of what other countries around the globe faced.

However, China only record deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official Covid death toll according to a Chinese health official.

The private hospital said: "This year's Christmas Eve, New Year's Day, and the Lunar New Year are destined to be unsafe.

"In this tragic battle, the entire Greater Shanghai will fall, and we will infect all the staff of the hospital! We will infect the whole family!

"Our patients will all be infected! We have no choice, and we cannot escape."

China reported no new Covid deaths for a second consecutive day on December 21.

But funeral parlour workers say demand has surged in the past week.

According to experts, China could see more than a million Covid deaths in 2023 due to a relatively low full vaccination rates among the elderly population.

Government data shows that the country’s vaccination rate is above 90 per cent but rates for adults who have had their booster jabs falls to 57.9 per cent.

And for people aged 80 and above, figures drop to 42.3 per cent.

Data from British health data firm Airfinity reveals that infections in China are likely to be more than one million a day along with more than 5,000 deaths per day.