After long pursuing a strict zero-Covid regime, restrictions have been lifted in China as new variants emerge
so that only patients with the virus who die because of pneumonia and respiratory failure now meet the criteria.There are a number of reasons. The relaxation of restrictions has given the virus a greater chance to spread, and China’s sluggish vaccination campaign, coupled with the use of a less effective vaccine than those developed in the west, means the population has little protection and many vulnerable people remain at risk from the virus.
“The sudden shift in policy is certainly concerning for China – the fact that very few people have had Covid, plus a lower uptake of vaccines/boosters, [especially] in vulnerable age groups, means that they have lower overall immunity, particularly in the vulnerable, than the rest of the world right now,” said Dr Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern and the University of Geneva in Switzerland.
Experts have argued such restrictions will make little difference to the number of new cases in countries where Covid infection levels are already high. However, if positive samples from such testing are sequenced, the approach could shed light on the variants at play in China.
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