Reside
Chinese language state-media says COVID testing necessities imposed by different nations in response to its surging wave of infections are “discriminatory”, within the clearest pushback but in opposition to restrictions which are slowing down its re-opening.
Having saved its borders all however shut for 3 years, imposing a strict regime of lockdowns and relentless testing, China abruptly reversed course in the direction of dwelling with the virus on December 7, and a wave of infections erupted throughout the nation.
Some locations have been taken again by the dimensions of China’s outbreak and expressed skepticism over Beijing’s COVID statistics. The US, South Korea, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan have all made COVID assessments necessary for vacationers from China.
“The true intention is to sabotage China’s three years of COVID-19 management efforts and assault the nation’s system,” state-run tabloid International Occasions stated in an article late on Thursday, calling the restrictions “unfounded” and “discriminatory”.
China will cease requiring inbound vacationers to enter quarantine from January 8. However it would nonetheless demand a adverse PCR check outcome inside 48 hours earlier than departure.
Italy on Thursday urged the rest of the European Union to follow its lead. France, Germany and Portugal have said they see no need for new travel restrictions, while Austria has stressed the economic benefits of Chinese tourists’ return to Europe.
Global spending by Chinese visitors was worth more than $US250 billion ($370 billion) a year before the pandemic.
The US has raised concerns about potential mutations of the virus as it sweeps through the world’s most populous country, as well as over China’s data transparency.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering sampling wastewater from international aircraft to track any emerging new variants.
China, a country of 1.4 billion people, reported one new COVID death for Thursday, same as the day before – numbers that do not match the experience of other countries after they re-opened.
China’s official death toll of 5247 since the pandemic began compares with more than one million deaths in the US. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, a city of 7.4 million, has reported more than 11,000 deaths.
British health data company Airfinity said on Thursday about 9000 people were probably dying each day in China from COVID. Cumulative deaths in China since December 1 had likely reached 100,000, with infections totaling 18.6 million, it said.
Airfinity expected China’s COVID infections to reach their first peak on January 13, with 3.7 million cases a day.
China’s chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou said on Thursday that a team at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention planned to assess fatalities differently.
The team will measure the difference between the number of deaths in the current wave of infections and the number of deaths expected had the epidemic never happened. By calculating the “excess mortality”, China will be able to work out what could have been potentially underestimated, Professor Wu said.
China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.
The relatively low death count is also inconsistent with the surging demand reported by funeral parlors in several Chinese cities.
-AAP
