Streets in major Chinese cities were eerily quiet on Sunday as people stayed home to protect themselves from a surge in Covid-19 cases that has hit urban centres from north to south. China is currently in the first of an expected three waves of Covid cases this winter, according to the country’s chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou.

A US-based research institute said this week that the country could see an explosion of cases and over a million people in China could die of Covid in 2023.  Cases could multiply across the country if people follow typical travel patterns of returning to their home areas in a mass transit movement for the Lunar New Year holiday next month.