The COVID-19 infection has been continuously affecting the world. Since it hit the globe in 2020, it halted the ‘normal lives’ of everyone around and a ‘new normal’ came to life. However, after the rollout of two doses vaccines and booster shots after, the globe seemingly adapted to the always-present COVID-19 virus.
When majority of the world seeks and seems to recover, China may have turned another way around. The rising of COVID-19 cases in China is alarming, and here’s a possible cause and a possible effect of it.
Cause of COVID-19 cases in China
On Monday, December 19, China announced its first official COVID-19 related deaths after weeks. It may sound like a joy after lifting the ‘zero-COVID’ policy, but this may have raised concerns among some world health institutions.
- The zero-COVID policy includes strict lockdowns, mass testing, home isolation, and quarantine in government facilities. Schools and establishments under lockdown are closed, and shops except for selling food remain closed as well.
- But what could be the reason? The most possible cause of the rising COVID-19 cases in China could be that it never ‘left’ the country. There could have been too many asymptomatic symptoms and untreated cases that lead to the sudden surge.
- Despite the tight restrictions country-wide, it seemed that the cases haven’t truly gone down.
- This surge poses a concern to the world, according to the U.S. News, the U.S. wants China to ‘address’ this as this could be another coronavirus variant. The last thing the globe wants is to have another variant spreading.
Possible effect of the surge
There are multiple models that predicts at what could happen to China if the surge continues. An expected death toll of 1 million people is predicted for China.
- According to the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the death toll in China may peak around April 1st, 2023. The number they predicted could reach 322,000.
- Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci assessed China’s situation earlier this month, according to the U.S. News. “Whenever you have a large wave of transmissions of a virus, you give it ample opportunity to mutate,” he said.
- Moreover, the country stopped mass testing and those recorded cases are only from hospitals and clinics. All asymptomatic and self-testing kits have not been added to the counts of positive cases in the country.
More about the COVID-19 cases in China
According to The New York Times report, at least 91% of China’s population has been fully vaccinated. 58 out of 100 people received the additional doses in the country.
- China reported an average number of 1,800 cases per day since last week. While the cases decreased in percentage, the death increased to around 250 percent.
- The country experienced its highest death toll way back in February 2020. On the other hand, the highest-recorded cases were during April 2022.
- From January 2020 to December 20, 2022, a total of 10,088,555 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China were tallied by the World Health Organization (WHO).
We hope that these predictions for China would not happen. Get your vaccines, and be vigilant and careful all the time.
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