HENAN    -    Nearly 90% of people in Henan, China’s third most populous province, have now been infected with Covid, local health officials say.

Provincial official Kan Quancheng revealed the figure - amounting to about 88.5 million people - at a press conference. China is battling an unprecedented surge in cases after abandoning zero-Covid policies in December.

The move followed rare protests against lockdowns, quarantines and mass tests.

Mr Kan did not specify a timeline for when all the infections happened - but as China’s previous zeroCovid policy kept cases to a minimum, it’s likely the vast majority of Henan’s infections occurred in the past few weeks. He said visits to fever clinics in Henan province peaked on 19 December “after which it showed a continuous downward trend”. The Henan provincial figures are in stark contrast to Covid figures from the central government.