Half a million people in a single Chinese city are being infected with Covid-19 every day, a senior health official has said, in a rare and quickly censored acknowledgement that the country’s wave of infections is not being reflected in official statistics.

Hong Kong is aiming to reopen its border with China by mid-January, city leader John Lee announced on Saturday after returning from meetings in Beijing.

Shanghai authorities urged residents to stay at home this weekend, seeking a toned-down Christmas in the nation's most populous city as Covid-19 rages nationwide after tough curbs were lifted.

Two weeks after China abruptly lifted its long-held zero-Covid restrictions, the health authorities are scrambling to expand critical care capacity to deal with the surge in infections, which has already led to long lines at under-resourced hospitals.

China is expecting a peak in Covid-19 infections within a week, a health official said, with authorities predicting extra strain on the country’s health system even as they downplay the disease’s severity and continue to report no new deaths.

President Gabriel Boric of Chile, whose country has the largest Palestinian population outside of the Middle East, said Wednesday that he planned to open an embassy “in Palestine”.

A Shanghai hospital has told its staff to prepare for a “tragic battle” with Covid-19 as it expects half of the city’s 25 million people will get infected by the end of next week, while the virus sweeps through China largely unchecked.

The head of the World Health Organization said he was "very concerned" Wednesday about an unprecedented wave of Covid cases in China, urging Beijing to provide detailed information about the severity of the situation.

Dozens of hearses queued outside a Beijing crematorium on Wednesday, even as China reported no new COVID-19 deaths in its growing outbreak, sparking criticism of its virus accounting as the capital braces for a surge of cases.

China reported its first Covid-related deaths in weeks yesterday amid rising doubts over whether the official count was capturing the full toll of a disease that is ripping through cities after the government relaxed strict anti-virus controls.

Streets in major Chinese cities were eerily quiet yesterday as people stayed home to protect themselves from a surge in Covid-19 cases that has hit urban centres from north to south.

China, which chairs a high-stakes UN biodiversity summit in Montreal, was due to present a long-awaited compromise text yesterday in an attempt to seal the “peace pact with nature” that the planet sorely needs.

China's abrupt lifting of stringent Covid-19 restrictions could result in an explosion of cases and over a million deaths through 2023, according to new projections from the US-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

Two veteran Chinese state media journalists have died from Covid-19 in the capital Beijing in recent days, media said yesterday, among the first reported deaths since the government abandoned its strict “zero-Covid” policy of curbs and lockdowns.

The death of a young medical student in China ignited concern yesterday over the strain on the country’s healthcare system as staff battle a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases.

China’s top health body said yesterday the true scale of coronavirus infections in the country is now “impossible” to track, with officials warning

Covid cases are surging in the Chinese capital, officials said yesterday, as the country navigates a rapid turn away from its zero-tolerance coronavirus strategy.

A senior US delegation in China discussed ways to improve ties and the issue of Taiwan with their local counterparts, Beijing said yesterday, as they laid the groundwork for a planned visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

China said Monday it would retire an app used to track travel to areas with Covid-19 cases, a milestone in the country's rapid turn away from its zero-tolerance coronavirus strategy.

China yesterday announced the first delivery of its new domestically produced passenger jet, with the aircraft expected to make its commercial debut early next year.