This is the moment a mother does not need a thermometer to see if her son is suffering from a fever as clouds of steam pour from his head as he rests in bed.

The video was shot at the family home in Handan, Hebei Province, south west China.

The video was shared on Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok – as the number of COVID-19 infections has soared following a dramatic easing of restrictions.

Numbers are now so high that the National Health Commission (NHC) has stopped publishing statistics and closed down the nationwide network of PCR testing stations.

The decision is apparently following widespread protests against the tough measures that have included strict lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

The shocking footage shows the boy – believed to be about 11 years old – sitting up in bed, throwing off the blankets and literally steaming as vapour rises into the air.

His mother, who has not been named, said that she later checked her son and found he had a temperature of 42 degrees centigrade.

Coupled with the fact that the room was a little chilly, column of steam was left rising from his body.

The mum said that she had given him plenty to drink and he had sweated a lot under the blankets, which were then turned to steam vapour when they were removed so that he could cool down.

The youngster was apparently well after a couple of days without the need to go to hospital, according to his mother.

Chinese officials estimate that the current rate of infections will peak at around New Year’s Day.

Conservative estimates suggest that about a million people will die from a failure to properly vaccinate the elderly in advance of the sudden exit from the previous strict controls.