Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, May 6 (TMTPOST) — In China, about 162.3 million people aged 60 or above have received a booster shot for Covid-19, Wu Liangyou, a disease control official of the National Health Commission of China, said at a press conference on Friday.

As of May 5, 2022, about 3.35 billion Covid-19 jabs have been administered across the country, statistics from the National Health Commission show. About 1.29 billion people in the country have received at least one Covid-19 jab. About 1.25 billion people have been fully vaccinated, accounting for 88.74% of the total population. About 756.7 million people have received a booster shot.

Around 227.7 million elderly who are 60 years old or older had received at least one jab, around 215.6 million of whom are fully vaccinated. This means that 81.67% of the elderly population have been fully vaccinated in China. About 162.3 million elderly have received a booster shot.

Wu said that practices have shown vaccination is effective in preventing hospitalization and death in the Covid-19 pandemic. Relevant authorities have been working on vaccinating the population, particularly the elderly, according to Wu. At the press conference, Wu urged Chinese residents to get vaccinated in time.

China has been witnessing new waves of Covid-19 outbreaks in different regions in the country. Under the country’s dynamic zero-Covid policy, strict measures have been taken to curb the spread of the outbreaks. Residential lockdown and travel restrictions have been implemented to fight off the pandemic. Shanghai, one of the world’s busiest cities and China’s financial hub, has been under lockdown for over a month as Covid-19 resurgence hit the city.

Liang Wannian, head of the National Health Commission's Covid-19 leading task force, has clarified that the dynamic zero-Covid policy is supposed to avoid citywide lockdown as much as possible. Liang said that timely and decisive measures should be taken to curb the spread of Covid-19 since the Omicron variant is highly contagious. He also highlighted that while doing so measures should be taken to balance pandemic control and prevention and economic activities.