China is experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections that not only won’t subside, but is likely to increase in the coming weeks as the New Year approaches and the subsequent move from cities to rural areas to celebrate it. Unlike three years ago when the pandemic broke out, the world now has vaccines to fight Covid. So what caused this new health care crisis in the Asian country?” he asks 20 minutesquoted by Rador.

In November 2022, ten people died in a fire in a residential building in the city of Urumqi, and citizens accused the authorities of inaction due to the severe restrictions they were placed under.

The event was later met with unprecedented protests in the country, and the government finally agreed to scrap the controversial “zero Covid” policy it had been implementing for nearly three years, based on long-term isolation, daily testing of entire urban areas and other draconian preventive measures. activities in cities such as Shanghai.

As part of the dismantling of this policy, starting next Monday, the coronavirus will cease to be category A and become category B.

This will mean that those arriving in the country will have to provide a negative PCR result taken 48 hours before the start of travel, but will no longer be required to undergo quarantine.

Likewise, there will be no monitoring of the infected or their close contacts, nor will high- or low-risk areas be defined based on the number of infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 87% of China’s 1,400 million people are vaccinated with two shots, but only 55% have a booster dose, this percentage drops to 40% in the case of people over 80 years old.

In this context, the fourth dose was not generally accepted. This occurs in parallel with very low immunity to previous infections.

Experts say current strains are less virulent but more contagious, making it more likely that they will infect more vulnerable people and those with pre-existing conditions, putting their lives at risk.

“It will be very difficult to stop the virus with public and social measures alone,” said Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Emergencies Programme, who stressed the importance of the country prioritizing vaccination of the most vulnerable.

“The main emphasis has shifted to vaccination, especially of the weakest. Even with an option like Omicron, vaccination is an exit strategy to reduce exposure, as was done in Japan with high rates of vaccination of the vulnerable,” Ryan noted.

In addition to incomplete vaccination schedules, China adds that it has only allowed two vaccines to be used on its territory, both from local companies. We are talking about Sinovac and Sinopharm, whose effectiveness against sub-variants of Omicrom, according to WHO, will barely exceed 51%.

“Viral protein vaccines are very good at protecting against severe disease, hospitalization and death. But the inactivated vaccine, as in the case of the Chinese one, needs a third dose to get the maximum benefit,” he emphasized. Director of the WHO Department of Immunization Catherine O’Brien.

“We’re not talking about a booster dose, but rather that a third dose is required for the regimen to be effective, and most of the Chinese population only took two,” he noted.

The inactivated vaccine, like the Chinese vaccine, requires a third dose to obtain maximum benefit. Most of the Chinese population received only two.

For all these reasons, the organization recommended that China produce within its borders the Pzifer and Moderna-type messenger RNA vaccine used in the West.

To help the country cope with this wave of infections, the European Commission has offered it vaccines against Covid-19.

“In light of the situation in China, Commissioner [Stella] Kyriakides contacted his Chinese counterparts to offer solidarity and support to the EU. This includes public health expertise as well as option-adapted vaccine donations,” a spokesperson for the public bloc explained on Tuesday.

However, Beijing rejected the donation, the Financial Times reported. Through the Foreign Office, the government argued that it did not need European vaccines, citing the “strength of clinical effectiveness” of “broad” coverage of national vaccines.

“The epidemiological situation in China is normal and under control,” ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.