Omicron explosion in China – expect 800 million infected people this winter – E24

Namely, immunity in the country is very low.

Overcrowded hospitals Long queues outside Crematoriums It now affects large parts of the country.

to me financial times 250 million infected in the last 20 days.

This corresponds to 18 percent of China’s population which is much higher than the official infection figures.

800 million It is estimated to be infected this winter. This is more than half of the population of 1.4 billion.

Just a few weeks ago, you were either turned away or confined home if you were infected. The strategy was to keep infection numbers as close to zero as possible. Earlier this winter, the Chinese had had enough, which led to Surprisingly large protests over large parts of the country.

Then the authorities made a complete revolution – it became very difficult to curb Omicron’s work. They have relaxed measures, and people who test positive can now self-isolate at home instead of in Covid centres.

Chinese authorities have reported only eight deaths since December 1. In addition, they changed the definition of coronary death. Report now Only those who die from pneumonia.

They also stopped reporting daily infection numbers.

Outside one of the crematoriums in the capital, Beijing, you can see long lines of cars waiting to cremate the bodies of their loved ones. CNN reports. The nearby flower shop reports that they are sold out of flowers.

Poor vaccines

The reason Omicron has spread so quickly is because almost no one has been infected yet — and vaccine coverage is poor.

China is late in rolling out vaccines to people, and they are Didn’t want to buy western RNA vaccines Like Pfizer or Moderna.

It also turns out that Sinopharm and the Chinese Sinovac work much worse against severe coronavirus than these two.

– I am really concerned about China’s ability to deal with the virus with the vaccine they have. They need better vaccines, said Ashish Jha, who leads coronavirus preparedness in the US. in an interview.

put this? The doctor at this hospital in Sichuan, China is completely exhausted as he has to see a long line of patients:

President Joe Biden has urged China to approve RNA vaccines, so that the population can be better protected.

In addition, a third of those over the age of 60 did not receive the third vaccine dose. This means 85 million people.

Many are skeptical about taking the vaccineor you didn’t take it because the country wasn’t infected in any way.

“wild card”

— An immunologist of the World Health Organization told the news agency that the emerging wave in China is a “wild card.” Reuters last week.

The World Health Organization believes that it is too early to end the “global health crisis” phase due to the situation in China.

Plus, there’s another joker here: the risk of a more dangerous variant.

– When you have a large wave infected with a virus, you give it a lot of opportunities to mutate. And when you give the virus the chance to mutate, it can lead to new variants that can affect the rest of the world. said Anthony FauciChief epidemiologist of the United States.

iPhone production may be affected

Another question arising from the massive outbreak is what will happen to the world’s second largest economy.

During the past three years of the Corona virus, the economy has suffered huge losses, and The hope is that easing the measures will lift them up again.

At the same time, if millions of factory workers become infected, it could seriously affect the production of things that China and the rest of the world need.

financial times He writes that Apple is among the brands that may suffer – thus connecting my iPhone or Mac:

More than 90 percent of iPhones are assembled in China.

Sales have been affected, too: An Apple store in Beijing’s largest shopping district had to cut hours last week because all the employees were sick.