China has seen its first deaths from COVID-19 in six months, and thousands more people are catching the disease, despite the government's former super-strict lockdown policy, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying the country should rethink its strategy.
A total of 26 824 new cases were recorded last Sunday, with three deaths reported in Beijing over the past few days, reports the BBC.
New cases have been reported throughout the country, with Guangdong, in the south, being the worst affected region.
Ironically, there is no longer a national lockdown and several previous restrictive measures were recently relaxed.
However, the central government is now telling local authorities to re-impose strict lockdowns in their areas when they detect a COVID-19 outbreak – even if it’s only a handful of cases.
Mass testing is being carried out in areas where cases have been reported and citizens detected with the virus are being isolated at home or placed under quarantine at a government-supervised facility.
Businesses and schools are closed, as are all shops except for those selling food.
Tens of millions of people have been living under some kind of lockdown since the latest wave of COVID-19.
Guangzhou, with nearly 19m people, recently ordered a five-day lockdown for Baiyun, its most populous district.
Some rules, however, have been relaxed. People with COVID-19 are now kept in isolation for only eight days, rather than 10: five days at an isolation centre, plus three days of isolation at home.
China is also now allowing international arrivals for the first time since March 2022. Inbound travellers need to take a COVID test 48 hours before they arrive.
Why is China still trying to achieve zero COVID?
Unlike other countries, which have accepted they will have to live with the disease to a certain extent, China is following a policy it calls "dynamic zero", taking dynamic action wherever COVID-19 flares up, to eradicate it.
Strict lockdowns mean the country’s death toll has stayed low ever since the start of the pandemic: the official figure is now just more than 5 200.
This reported figure equates to three COVID deaths in every million in China, compared with 3 000 per million in the US and 2 400 per million in the UK.
China was seen as an example of a country handling the virus relatively successfully at the start of the pandemic.
But the WHO has said it was very hard to contain the Omicron variant spreading across China because it is more infectious than other variants.
"The virus is evolving, changing its behaviour," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu of the WHO. "With that… changing your measures will be very important."
Chinese President Xi Jinping says the zero-COVID policy is "scientific and effective", and the government has said the WHO's suggested change of policy would "inevitably lead to the deaths of a large number of elderly people".
Is more vaccination the answer?
Only about half of people in China aged 80 and above have received their primary vaccinations, with fewer than 20% having had a booster.
Fewer than 60% of the 60-69 age group is fully vaccinated. China has been urging the elderly to get vaccinated as people in these older age groups are the most likely to die from the virus.
There are also doubts over whether the two main vaccines used in China, Sinovac and Sinopharm, are really effective. Both use inactivated virus to prompt an immune response.
Studies suggest they provide little protection against infection by the Omicron variant, even after two doses.
The US and other Western nations have offered China mRNA vaccines, which might be more effective, but they have not been widely used in mainland China.
BBC article – How many Covid cases does China have and what are its rules? (Open access)
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China slackens COVID restrictions for travellers
WHO chief: China’s zero-COVID policy is ‘not sustainable’
China’s bid for Zero Covid: Economic pain, rights abuses and data manipulation