China's abrupt and under-prepared exit from the zero-Covid policy could lead to nearly one million deaths, according to a new study, as the country

braces for an unprecedented wave of infections spreading out from its biggest cities to its vast rural areas, as per a media report.

For nearly three years, the Chinese government has used strict lockdowns, centralized quarantines, mass testing, and rigorous contact tracing to curb the spread of the virus, CNN reported.

That costly strategy was abandoned earlier this month, following an explosion of protests across the country against stringent restrictions that upended businesses and daily life.

But experts have warned that the country is poorly prepared for such a drastic exit, having fallen short of bolstering the elderly vaccination rate, upping surge and intensive care capacity in hospitals, and stockpiling antiviral medications.

Under the current conditions, a nationwide reopening could result in up to 684 deaths per million people, according to the projections by three professors at the University of Hong Kong, CNN reported.

The surge of infections would "likely overload many local health systems across the country", said the research paper released last week on the Medrxiv preprint server, which is yet to undergo peer review.

Simultaneously lifting restrictions in all provinces would lead to hospitalization demands 1.5 to 2.5 times of surge hospital capacity, according to the study, CNN reported.

But this worst-case scenario could be avoided if China rapidly rolls out booster shots and antiviral drugs.

With fourth-dose vaccination coverage of 85 percent and antiviral coverage of 60 percent, the death toll can be reduced by 26 percent to 35 percent, according to the

the study, which is funded partly by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Hong Kong government, CNN reported. (KB/IANS)