Amid scary pictures and videos on social media of overflowing hospitals in China due to another Covid-19 wave, the Chinese health authorities on Monday (December 19) declared only two deaths due to the virus. These were the first reported fatalities from the South Asian country in weeks. A massive surge is expected in infections after the country eased Xi Jinping's flagship “zero-COVID” policy.
China mum on surge; videos suggest otherwise
Though visuals and pictures surfacing on social media paint a grim picture of the situation in the neighboring country, they remain unverified as there is little or no reporting from the local Chinese media.
However, global news agencies like the AP, reporting from Beijing, alerted of a “widespread wave of new coronavirus cases”. The AP talked to unnamed relatives of deceased patients and people in the funeral business, who said deaths due to the virus were increasing once again.
China's alleged suppression of numbers
China, since the beginning of the pandemic, has been accused of suppressing the real picture of the havoc caused there. Videos and pictures have surfaced in the past, contradicting the rosy picture given by Chinese authorities. As per the AP, China’s National Health Commission has put the number of confirmed cases of the disease since the pandemic began at 380,453 and number of deaths at 5,237, numbers exceptionally low if compared to countries like the US and India.
Here are five reasons why China could be witnessing massive surge in infections-
1) China, unlike other countries, handled the pandemic differently with an extremely restrictive containment strategy. The strategy had proved out to be fairly successfully so far. The country was able to restrict waves of pandemic by imposing the strict "zero-Covid policy". For the last three years in China, every known case, even asymptomatic, was compulsorily hospitalised, small outbreaks led to hard lockdowns, and suspected cases, and all contacts, were kept under long isolation. Shanghai, the country's financial capital and home to 25 million people, faced a complete lockdown in march this year.
2) The strict restrictions over even small outbreaks meant not much of the population has been exposed to the virus. The 'zero-COVID' policy, once termed as China's success, is now turning into its weakness. Since a large section of population has not been exposed to the virus, they have not developed immunity to it. Administration of vaccine is not an assurance of restricting infection in very significant ways.
3) China dropped the 'zero-COVID' policy unexpectedly and abruptly after massive protests erupted across the country against the policy, also demanding resignation of President Xi Jinping. When large population unexposed to the virus and jabbed with the two Chinese vaccines termed not so effective is suddenly exposed to the virus, it is a sureshot recipe for disaster.
Jennifer Zeng, who claims to provide first-hand info & unique insights about China & CCP, said: "Summary of CCP's current COVID goal: Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production.”
4) Another big concern in this situation for China is Omicron, a fast-spreading variant, which could wreck havoc after the removal of strict restrictions. As Omicron encounters a vast pool of susceptible people, it will be able to spread very rapidly after that, leading to a similar situation witnessed in March-April.
5) Months after the coronation of Xi at party Congress, concerns about stability seem to have reached China’s highest levels. The CCP leadership, at Friday’s annual government meeting on economic policy, stressed on returning to old emphasis on speeding the pace of economic growth. The CCP, largely legitimised because of rapid economic development, now faces a conflict on whether to continue the restrictions to contain the COVID wave or ramp-up production ignoring the risks of massive surge in cases.
