With the wave of travel before the Chinese New Year, the coronavirus is likely to spread even more clearly: although the wave of infections in metropolises such as Beijing or Shanghai has already passed its peak, the massive outbreak will also affect rural areas towards the end of the month.
The duration and extent of the upcoming corona outbreak in the provinces and rural areas could be “drastically extended” by the trips to the New Year celebrations on January 22, according to a study published Wednesday in the newspaper “Frontiers of Medicine”. Millions of people traditionally travel to their native villages for the most important Chinese family festival. The new wave of infections in small and medium-sized towns and rural areas is viewed with concern because many elderly people live there and medical care is often inadequate.
One hundred million infected
Barely a month after the end of the strict zero-Covid strategy that China had been pursuing for almost three years, several hundred million Chinese have already been infected with the virus. The massive outbreak is expected to last until March or April. Exact figures are not available because the authorities have stopped publishing epidemiological data.
Searching for variants insufficient?
To discover new variants, three hospitals in three cities each in all provinces must collect and analyze weekly samples of 15 infections, 10 serious illnesses and all deaths. Expert Xi Chen of the Yale School of Public Health in the US thinks this is insufficient. “I’m afraid the sample size is too small,” Chen told Science magazine. Size and population density must also be taken into account.
Dissatisfaction with test evidence
The government in Beijing has since protested against entry restrictions that other countries have imposed on travelers from the People’s Republic due to concerns about the emergence of new virus variants. China itself had demanded a week of strict hotel quarantine upon arrival and issued very few visas. Even after the opening of the country announced for Sunday, negative tests still have to be submitted upon entry.
Source: Krone
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