China expected to witness fresh Covid wave with 65 million cases per week: Report

The news has raised alarm bells in the country where the Covid-19 pandemic originated in late 2019 and has witnessed some of the harshest Covid control protocols, with the healthcare system coming under severe strain.

By: Express Web Desk

Updated: May 26, 2023 02:05 PM IST

2 min read

Commuters wearing face masks wait at an intersection in the central business district during the morning rush hour in Beijing, Friday, May 26, 2023. (Photo by: AP)

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With XBB, the latest omicron variant, fueling an increase in cases, China is expected to witness a peak towards the end of the June, with as many as 65 million cases per week.

The data related to the new wave was brought to the public by respiratory disease specialist Zhong Nanshan at a medical conference this week in the southern city of Guangzhou, as per NBC news. Zhong Nanshan even told the audience that the wave that started in late April was “anticipated.” The modeling by the respiratory disease specialist also suggested that China could be approaching 40 million infections per week.

Chinese authorities have been rushing to push out vaccines to fight the fresh wave of the Covid-19 infection, The Washington Post reported.

The recent spike comes around six months after China knocked down its infrastructure for dealing with the coronavirus infection.

As per Jin Dong-yan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, “the country’s recent wave will not equal the “tsunami” of cases it experienced in December and January, older people and those with underlying diseases are still relatively under-vaccinated and are at high risk for developing severe disease,” NBC news reported.

Meanwhile, as China is seeing a surge in cases, US is in discussion about China’s second Covid wave with allies, the State Department has said. However, it declined to comment on whether travel restrictions were under consideration. The United States had imposed a testing requirement on travelers from China in January before lifting it in March,

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The latest variant XBB is a hybrid of Omicron’s BA.2.75 and BJ.1 sub-variants. It is reported that the XBB has immune evasive properties.

The recent spike in infections in China comes weeks after the World Health Organization clamied that Covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency.

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