China’s flu infections rose while COVID-19 cases continued to drop from a December peak after the nation eased pandemic restrictions.
The flu positivity rate jumped to 14.3% in the seventh week of 2023 from 3.4% previously, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly COVID-19 surveillance report Saturday. The COVID-19 positivity rate dropped further to 3.4% in the same week from 4.1%.
The number of COVID-related death at medical institutions fell to 7 in the seven-day period ending Feb. 23, with all of them dying from underlying diseases and none from respiratory failure. The number of COVID-19 cases infected with omicron subvariants known as XBB in local transmission ticked up slightly to 6.
A number of schools across China halted classes earlier this week to stem the spread of COVID-19 and other pathogens ranging from flu to the norovirus. Shanghai suspended in-person teaching in an elementary school class after four students were diagnosed with the flu and others developed similar symptoms, while eastern e-commerce hub Hangzhou introduced similar moves after some students tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid antigen tests.
