Chinese Authorities Announce The COVID-19 Epidemic That Has Ended But Not Completely, There Are Seven Import Cases

JAKARTA - China's health authorities announced on Thursday that the country's COVID-19 epidemic had ended but had not been completely completed, as seven imported cases of the XBB variant were still found. 1.5 which has been very contagious since January 8.

Officials, speaking at a news event attended by several departments, said China's "definite big win" over COVID had set an example for densely populated countries in the prevention and control of the disease.

Last week, China's supreme leaders declared a "definite victory" over COVID, claiming the lowest death rate in the world, as reported by Reuters on February 23.

However, experts question recorded data, as the virus surged across the country recently, having previously been largely controlled for three years.

China is known to strengthen its health care system to anticipate the spread of the virus to rural areas. Officials said at Thursday's press conference the beds for critical care had been expanded from 198,000 units to 404,000 units.

Officials and health experts have also been monitoring Omicron's XBB.1.5 sub-variants for months. On January 4, the data showed no new variants were found in the country.

Officials added that one local case of the variant was linked to an imported case on February 3.