37 million people in China could get sick in one day this week

December 23, 2022

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37 million people in China could get sick in one day this week BEIJING-SHANGHAI: China expects a peak in COVID-19 cases within a week, a health official said, while the authorities expect more pressure on the country's health system even though they are greatly reducing the severity of the disease and continue to announce no new deaths. In the face of the increase in infections and the spread of protests against closures and examinations related to the zero Covid policy, China began to abandon this policy this month and became the last large country to move towards coexistence with the virus. China's containment measures have slowed the economy to grow at its lowest rate in nearly 50 years, and global supply and trade chains have been damaged. China recorded fewer than 4,000 new local symptoms with symptoms on December 22, and no new deaths from the disease were reported for the third day in a row. The authorities have lowered the criteria for determining deaths from COVID-19, which has drawn criticism from many disease experts. The government-backed newspaper (The Paper) in Shanghai quoted Zhang Wenhong, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, as saying on Thursday that China "expects to reach the peak of infections within a week." "The peak in infections will also increase the rate of disease severity, which will certainly have an impact on our entire medical resources," he added. He indicated that the wave will continue for a month or two. And Bloomberg News reported today, Friday, citing estimates by the National Health Commission, that nearly 37 million people in China may contract the disease during one day this week. A Shanghai hospital estimated that half of the city's 25 million residents could contract the disease by the end of next week. Experts say China could face more than a million deaths from COVID-19 in the next week. Unpreparedness of the health system The sudden change in Chinese policy led to the surprise of the fragile health system, which was not ready for that at a time when hospitals are scrambling to secure beds and blood bags for the injured, while pharmacies are racing to provide medicines, amid the Chinese authorities' relentless efforts to build clinics. More than a dozen global health experts, epidemiologists, local residents and political analysts polled by Reuters said the authorities' failure to vaccinate the elderly and communicate the strategy to defeat COVID-19 to the public, along with an overemphasis on stamping out the virus, had put pressure on China's medical infrastructure. . People polled by Reuters said that China has spent large sums of money on testing and quarantine facilities over the past three years rather than directing these funds to hospitals, clinics and training medical staff. "There is an incredible lack of preparation for the next virus despite warnings given well in advance," said Leong Ho Nam, an infectious disease physician at the Rovi Clinic in Singapore. The Chinese National Health Commission did not respond to requests for comment on these criticisms. China has developed nine domestically developed coronavirus vaccines, all of which have been approved for use, but they are less effective than Western-made vaccines that use the new messenger RNA (MRNA) technology. A spokesman for the German embassy in Beijing told Reuters today, Friday, that a shipment containing 11,500 doses of the Biontech vaccine, which relies on mRNA technology, had arrived in China to vaccinate German citizens. The spokesperson said the embassy hopes to administer the first doses "as soon as possible". Lack of data WHO has not received any data from China on new hospitalizations of COVID-19 since Beijing suspended its zero-COVID policy. The World Health Organization said the gaps in the data may be due to the difficulty the Chinese authorities are having in counting cases. Amid mounting doubts about Beijing's statistics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that all countries, including China, should share information about their experiences with COVID-19. With the outbreak of the Corona virus in China, the population that had previously been subject to isolation for long periods began to learn ways to live with the virus.

BEIJING-SHANGHAI: China expects a peak in COVID-19 cases within a week, a health official said, while the authorities expect more pressure on the country's health system even though they are greatly reducing the severity of the disease and continue to announce no new deaths.

In the face of the increase in infections and the spread of protests against closures and examinations related to the zero Covid policy, China began to abandon this policy this month and became the last large country to move towards coexistence with the virus.

China's containment measures have slowed the economy to grow at its lowest rate in nearly 50 years, and global supply and trade chains have been damaged.

China recorded fewer than 4,000 new local symptoms with symptoms on December 22, and no new deaths from the disease were reported for the third day in a row. The authorities have lowered the criteria for determining deaths from COVID-19, which has drawn criticism from many disease experts.

The government-backed newspaper (The Paper) in Shanghai quoted Zhang Wenhong, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, as saying on Thursday that China "expects to reach the peak of infections within a week."

"The peak in infections will also increase the rate of disease severity, which will certainly have an impact on our entire medical resources," he added. He indicated that the wave will continue for a month or two.

And Bloomberg News reported today, Friday, citing estimates by the National Health Commission, that nearly 37 million people in China may contract the disease during one day this week.

A Shanghai hospital estimated that half of the city's 25 million residents could contract the disease by the end of next week. Experts say China could face more than a million deaths from COVID-19 in the next week.

Unpreparedness of the health system

The sudden change in Chinese policy led to the surprise of the fragile health system, which was not ready for that at a time when hospitals are scrambling to secure beds and blood bags for the injured, while pharmacies are racing to provide medicines, amid the Chinese authorities' relentless efforts to build clinics.

More than a dozen global health experts, epidemiologists, local residents and political analysts polled by Reuters said the authorities' failure to vaccinate the elderly and communicate the strategy to defeat COVID-19 to the public, along with an overemphasis on stamping out the virus, had put pressure on China's medical infrastructure.

People polled by Reuters said that China has spent large sums of money on testing and quarantine facilities over the past three years rather than directing these funds to hospitals, clinics and training medical staff.

"There is an incredible lack of preparation for the next virus despite warnings given well in advance," said Leong Ho Nam, an infectious disease physician at the Rovi Clinic in Singapore.

The Chinese National Health Commission did not respond to requests for comment on these criticisms.

China has developed nine domestically developed coronavirus vaccines, all of which have been approved for use, but they are less effective than Western-made vaccines that use the new messenger RNA (MRNA) technology.

A spokesman for the German embassy in Beijing told Reuters today, Friday, that a shipment containing 11,500 doses of the Biontech vaccine, which relies on mRNA technology, had arrived in China to vaccinate German citizens.

The spokesperson said the embassy hopes to administer the first doses "as soon as possible".

Lack of data

WHO has not received any data from China on new hospitalizations of COVID-19 since Beijing suspended its zero-COVID policy. The World Health Organization said the gaps in the data may be due to the difficulty the Chinese authorities are having in counting cases.

Amid mounting doubts about Beijing's statistics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that all countries, including China, should share information about their experiences with COVID-19.

With the outbreak of the Corona virus in China, the population that had previously been subject to isolation for long periods began to learn ways to live with the virus.