China Covid outbreak

In the next three months, “thermonuclear” Chinese Covid outbreak could infect 10% of the global population.
A warning from an epidemiologist and a health economist

The world was hit by the coronavirus, which originated with an outbreak in Wuhan, China. India was undoubtedly one of the countries with the greatest economic and human toll. Three waves have so far affected the world, the second of which was the deadliest because it wiped out economies, families, and careers. In contrast, the last six months have brought some relief to the world. However, some recent Chinese reports, videos, and first-hand accounts have once more caused grave alarm.

Once more, Covid-19 cases and related fatalities are on the rise in China. The recent images and videos of dead bodies piled up have brought back some unpleasant memories.

The rise in fatalities coincides with the sudden lifting of the strict “zero-Covid policy” restrictions by the Chinese government. The latest reports indicate that China may experience a significant increase in cases in the coming days, while the number of fatalities linked to Covid is continuing to rise.

What Chinese social media accounts suggest?

Videos posted on social media support experts’ claims that the number of cases is increasing. The most recent death toll is seen to be overwhelming hospitals and cremation facilities. Sources in the Chinese capital claim that mortuary employees are working additional shifts.

Why China is not releasing recent Covid death statistics?

The latest outbreak is confirmed by Chinese videos and images, but the Chinese government hasn’t issued an official statement to support the claims. Though many schools have been closed for the upcoming month, major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu have added hundreds of fever clinics in response to the sudden increase in cases.

China Covid Wave

At a time when the rest of the world, including India, has been reporting a few infections on a daily basis for the past few months, China is experiencing an abrupt rise in Covid cases and deaths. According to numerous reports, China’s healthcare system is under stress as the number of infections and deaths has skyrocketed. New worries about the pandemic have been sparked by the current circumstances in China. The main concern is why Covid cases are increasing in China right now and whether or not we’re about to witness another deadly wave.

Why there is rise in Covid cases in China?

• Experts claim that after the initial Covid virus outbreak in China, the Xi Jinping administration adopted the “zero-covid policy,” which resulted in extremely strict lockdown conditions that prevented people from being exposed to more recent sub-variants like Delta or Omicron.
• Because of this, the average level of immunity in China did not rise to the same level as it did in the rest of the world.
• The relaxation of the zero-covid policy is now causing a significant increase in infections because the majority of Chinese people were not exposed to different sub-variants of virus on a widespread basis.
• According to experts, the Chinese-made mRNA vaccines’ efficacy is inferior to that of foreign-made mRNA vaccines because the former offers only 50% efficacy.
• What complicates this even more is the unanswered question of how many Chinese people have received the virus vaccination.
• Around 130 million elderly people in China are at risk of infection and are either under- or unvaccinated. This group would probably have a very high mortality rate. Leading epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding has estimated that the death toll may range from 1-2 million.

Should China’s situation worry the rest of the world?

It’s challenging to predict whether the world would experience another wave of Covid because there is currently no precise information available from China regarding how the new sub-variant of Omicron BF.7, which is driving this new wave, is mutating.
According to Eric Feigl-Ding, new Covid waves will have an impact on roughly 60% of China and 10% of the rest of the world.
Let’s hope that the situation doesn’t arise since the rest of the world has better immunity from earlier exposure to the virus and better vaccinations.