The corona is still here: The US authorities may sample wastewater from planes arriving in the country on international flights in order to track the spread of new variants of the corona virus, as reported this morning (Friday) in the British Guardian. This, against the background of the American president’s distress, Joe Bidenthat his country will impose new restrictions and corona tests on all incoming passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The proposal to test the sewage water was adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in order to provide a better process for tracking the virus and slowing its entry into the US. According to American infectious disease experts, this is a better way than new entry restrictions into the country. However , the European Union’s health agency announced last night that it believes the implementation of mandatory tests for entrants from China is currently “unjustified”, and pointed to “high immunity among the population in Europe”.
In the meantime, health experts in the UK estimate that around 9,000 people in China die every day as a result of the corona virus. The cumulative deaths in China since the beginning of December probably reached one hundred thousand, when the number of people infected with the virus reached 18.6 million. The British experts also added that according to estimates, the number of daily infections in China will reach 3.7 million on January 13. Also, the experts believe that the number of deaths will reach its peak on January 23 with 25 thousand dead per day.
As mentioned, the announcement by the US Federal Center for Disease Control came against the backdrop of growing concern in the US about an increase in the number of cases in China and the country’s lack of transparency regarding the outbreak there, and fear that the large number of corona cases in China could result in the development of new versions of the virus. For this decision restrictions on travelers From the China region, other countries such as India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan joined in. In Israel, such a step has not yet been decided.
An official in the health system indicated that China is facing a record number of confirmed cases as the authorities anticipate an additional burden on the country’s health system. As you may remember, the outbreak of the virus in the country is the result of the suspension of the “zero covid” policy due to the widespread demonstrations against the regime, thus the removal of closures and restrictions.
At the same time, the exact data of the spread of the corona, it is evident that it is not possible to conclude exactly. In the last day, China reported less than 4,000 confirmed cases of the corona virus, with no new deaths for the third day in a row. The low figures are based on the fact that the authorities have reduced the criteria according to which death due to the virus is defined, which has provoked criticism from many experts.