China rushed on Thursday to vaccinate its most vulnerable population in anticipation of waves of COVID-19 infections. Some analysts expect the death toll to skyrocket after the relaxation of strict controls that kept the pandemic at bay for three years.
The pressure comes at a time when the World Health Organization has also expressed concern that China’s 1.4 billion people are not sufficiently vaccinated and the United States has offered to help China cope with an increase in infections.
On Wednesday, Beijing began to roll back its strict controls on its “zero contagion” policy, scrapping testing requirements and easing quarantine rules that had caused tens of millions of people anxiety and battered the world’s second-biggest economy. .
The move away from President Xi Jinping’s signature coronavirus policy came after unprecedented widespread protests against it. However, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said COVID-19 infections were soaring in China long before the government’s decision to phase out its strict regimen.
“Right now there are talks that China has lifted the restrictions and suddenly the disease is out of control,” Ryan told a news conference in Geneva.
“The disease was spreading intensely because I think the control measures themselves were not stopping the disease.”
There are increasing signs of chaos as China turns around, with long lines at clinics, high demand for medicines and hoarding purchases across the country.
A video posted online on Wednesday showed several people, dressed in thick winter clothes, hooked up to intravenous drips as they sat on stools in the street outside a clinic in the central province of Hubei. Reuters verified the location of the video.
For all its efforts to quell the virus since it broke out in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, China could now pay a price for shielding a population that lacks “herd immunity” and has low vaccination rates among the elderly. say analysts.
“Authorities have allowed cases in Beijing and other cities to spread to the point where resuming restrictions, testing and tracing would be largely ineffective in controlling outbreaks,” Eurasia Group analysts said in a note on Thursday. .
“Over a million people could die from COVID-19 in the coming months.”
Other experts have put the potential number of victims at more than 2 million. China has so far reported only 5,235 COVID-19-related deaths, an extremely low number compared to global levels.
China’s stock markets and its currency, the yuan, fell on Thursday on concerns over the spread of the virus.
China reported 2,000 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for December 14, up from 2,291 the day before. Official figures, however, have become a less reliable guide as testing has diminished. In addition, on Wednesday it stopped reporting asymptomatic figures.
CONCERN FOR THE ELDERLY
China, which has claimed that around 90% of its population is vaccinated, announced on Wednesday that it would roll out the second booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for high-risk groups and the elderly over 60 years of age.
The spokesman for the National Health Commission, Mi Feng, said on Wednesday that it was necessary to speed up the promotion of vaccination, in comments collected by state media.
The latest official data shows that China administered 1.43 million vaccines on Tuesday, well above November rates of around 100,000 to 200,000 daily doses. In total, it has administered 3.450 million vaccines.
However, citing low vaccination rates among the elderly, a Shanghai nursing home said on Wednesday it was banning non-essential visits and deliveries, as well as stockpiling medicines, test kits and protective equipment.
“We are racking our brains on how to ensure the safety of your grandparents,” the Yuepu Tianyi residence wrote in a letter posted on its official WeChat account.
Beijing has largely resisted Western vaccines and treatments and has relied on locally made vaccines.
Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid is one of the few foreign drugs it has approved.
The treatment, however, has only been available in hospitals for high-risk patients, but signs have emerged in recent days that it may soon be more widely available. Shares of China Meheco Group Co Ltd rose after announcing an agreement on Wednesday to import the treatment from the US drugmaker.
ECONOMIC CONFERENCE
As the virus spreads, President Xi, his ruling Politburo and top government officials have launched a two-day meeting to chart a recovery for China’s battered economy, according to sources familiar with the matter.
According to the sources, the leaders are likely to draw up new stimulus measures and discuss growth targets at the annual Central Economic Work Conference held behind closed doors in Beijing. The official Xinhua news agency said plans would be made to boost domestic consumption and investment.
China’s economy lost momentum in November as factory output growth slowed and retail sales continued to decline, both missing forecasts and posting its worst results since May, data showed on Thursday.
Economists estimate China’s growth has slowed to around 3% this year, marking one of the country’s worst performances in nearly half a century.