China eased its Covid restrictions last month following strong protests. After this, the spread of covid intensified in the country
The number of Covid-19 cases in China has been on the rise in the last few weeks. In the current scenario, more than one million deaths are expected to occur in the country in the coming months.
In China, five Covid-19 deaths were reported last Monday and two on Sunday. According to a report by Reuters, the total number of deaths has reached 5,242. 2,700 new covid cases were reported on Monday. A few weeks ago, 40,000 cases were reported in China. Compared to this, the figures reported on Monday are low. However, many media reports suggest that the situation in China is more serious.
Covid Outbreak in China: What’s Happening?
China eased its Covid restrictions last month following strong protests. After this, the spread of covid intensified in the country. The number of daily cases touched new records in the first two weeks of this month. Even as official figures say daily numbers are falling, there are reports of hospitals overflowing with Covid patients, drug shortages and schools returning online.
China has been following a zero-covid policy for the past three years. With this, the country was able to contain any surge in Covid cases. Even asymptomatic people were admitted to hospitals, and even small outbreaks of Covid-19 led to lockdowns, with suspected cases and all their contacts placed in prolonged isolation. Foreign travelers are required to undergo 10 days of isolation.
China has been able to control the spread of Covid-19 over the past three years, despite the restrictions causing severe hardship for the people. However, this means that a large portion of the population has never been infected with the virus and is prone to catching the virus quickly because they have no natural immunity. Therefore, if the virus is able to overcome resistance, it can spread rapidly in the population. That’s what happened in China in March-April this year. For the first time there was an explosion of covid cases in the country.
Rapid spread of new variants of Omicron
Omicron’s highly virulent variants BA.5.2 and BF.7 are spreading in Chinese cities. There are currently over 500 omicron variants in circulation. The BF.7 variant is not limited to China. In October, more than 5 percent of cases were reported in the US and more than 7 percent in the UK.
But virologist Dr. Ekta Gupta says that the spread of Covid in China has nothing to do with the variant circulating there. ”There is no scientific evidence to suggest that there is a particular variant of China’s boom. “There is no evidence to suggest that any new variant is the cause,” she said.
“I understand that a large number of people have not been infected due to the strict lockdowns in China. We have seen that natural infection confers broad and long-lasting immunity against Covid-19. “People are now going out without wearing masks in India, but because people have hybrid immunity from natural infection and most of them have been vaccinated, not many cases are reported in the country,” she noted.
Concern for the world
The rising number of Covid cases in China is also worrying other countries. In particular, with international travel now back to pre-Covid levels, there are concerns it could spread to other countries. Another big concern is the possibility that the virus could evolve into more dangerous variants.
”It is definitely a scary thing. As the virus spreads, there are more opportunities to mutate into new forms. “No one can predict how dangerous these new variants will be,” said Dr Virander Chauhan, former head of the Delhi-based International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
Warning that deaths will increase
The spread of the virus in China is prompting dire warnings that the country could lose millions of lives. A report published Monday in Nature cites a study that says China could die as many as 1 million people in the next few months. Reuters listed three other recent studies that predicted deaths in China between 1 million and 2.1 million.
China has about 1.4 billion people, most of whom are susceptible to infection. The rapid spread of the virus means that many people are infected at the same time.
Chinese vaccines such as Sinovac and Sinopharm are also reported to be less effective. China became the first country to start vaccinating people in June 2020. But this meant that the vaccine was not fully developed at that time.
Vaccines have not significantly prevented infection, but elsewhere they have been very effective in preventing serious illness and death. But this is now in doubt in China. The most critical factor in controlling the current outbreak of Covid-19 in China is the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines.