10 most important developments since China abandoned ‘Zero Covid’ policy

Beijing: China has once again been hit by a fresh wave of COVID infections and there seems to be no respite from the chaos that has ensued in the country.

The World Health Organisation has flagged concerns over the unprecedented rate of a spike in infections while the world anticipates another health crisis.

The situation in China has rung alarm bells across the world, with countries reviewing their COVID situation and ramping up testing and genome sequencing.

Here are the top 10 important developments of the China covid situation.

– Following nationwide protests against China’s stringent COVID measures, authorities earlier this month lifted the zero-COVID policy, allowing people to isolate at home rather than in state facilities if they have mild or no symptoms. The provision of producing COVID tests at most venues was also revoked and people were allowed to move freely within the country. While most people were relieved, concerns were also raised about the sudden changes. The current situation in China, many experts say, was a result of relaxing the stringent measures suddenly as they made more citizens vulnerable to infections. Hence, the policy that was meant to mitigate the risk of infection actually backfired.

– It has been established that the variant that has been behind the rising number of infections is Omicron’s sub-variant BF.7. It is said to be highly contagious, more immunologically evasive and therefore, has a greater transmissibility. The variant called ‘Omicron spawn’, technically called BF.7, creating havoc in Beijing now was first detected in Northwest China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on 4 October.

– The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday said that hospitals in China appear to be filling up amid a new wave of COVID. Doctor Michael Ryan of WHO pointed out that despite officials saying that the number of cases is “relatively low” in China, Intensive Care Units (ICU) across the country are busy.

– Apart from hospitals, crematoriums and morgues have also been packed with bodies. News agency AFP reported that crematoriums across the country are struggling to deal with a rapid influx of bodies.

– Epidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding said that China is also facing a severe shortage of basic ibuprofen medicines and fever medicines. According to him, patients are directly going to the manufacturing units and waiting in long lines to buy them.

– Beijing is also facing an acute shortage of antigen test kits. With a greater number of people falling ill due to the widely spreading virus, people are rushing to pharmacies to get antigen kits but returning empty-handed as several stores have put up notices reading “antigen test kits sold-out”.

– The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday said he was “very concerned” about an unprecedented wave of Covid cases in China, as the health body urged Beijing to accelerate vaccination of the most vulnerable. “WHO is very concerned over the evolving situation in China, with increasing reports of severe disease” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a weekly news conference, appealing for detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and intensive care requirements.

– The Xi Jinping administration has narrowed down its definition of COVID-related deaths. The head of infectious diseases at China’s Peking University, Wang Guiqiang said that people with existing medical conditions who are infected by the virus are not being counted under COVID deaths.

– The Hong Kong health secretary on Wednesday said that passengers arriving in the city will not be granted an “amber code” which forced visitors to refrain from going to pubs and restaurants upon the first three days of arrival.

– Witnessing the recent developments of its neighbouring country, India has also started to review its covid situation. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asked states to focus on heightened surveillance within the community and undertake containment measures if required.

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