As COVID outbreak causes widespread concern, China promises to defeat it once and for all
As the government’s mouthpiece newspaper on Wednesday encouraged citizens for a “final victory” over the virus, international health officials sought to ascertain the specifics of China’s raging COVID-19 outbreak and how to stop a further spread.
A 1.4 billion-person population that has minimal natural immunity after being protected from the virus when it first appeared in Wuhan city three years ago has now been exposed to COVID as a result of China’s removal of its strict viral limitations last month.
International health experts forecast at least one million deaths in China this year, and funeral businesses have reported a surge in demand for their services.
However, China has formally downplayed worries about a disease that it had previously labored to eliminate by widespread lockdowns even as the rest of the globe opened up by reporting a modest number of COVID deaths following the policy U-turn.
China and the Chinese people will undoubtedly triumph in the fight against the disease, the organ of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Daily, wrote in an editorial in response to criticism of its strict anti-virus policies, which late last year led to unprecedented protests.
China has been particularly critical of decisions made by several countries to require a COVID test of its residents, stating they are irrational and without a scientific basis, as it now removes those limits.
On Wednesday, health officials from the 27-member European Union are scheduled to gather to discuss how to respond in a coordinated manner to the effects of increased travel from China.
According to the European Commission on Tuesday, the majority of EU nations support pre-departure COVID testing for travelers from China, following the imposition of comparable regulations by the US, UK, South Korea, and other nations.
