China Covid: More than 88 million people in Henan infected, official says

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 zero-Covid policy kept cases to a minimum, it's likely the vast majority of Henan's infections occurred in the past few weeks. read more