Easing COVID curbs could cause 2 mln deaths: China study
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Restoring normal population mobility to “COVID-zero regions” like China will cause some two million deaths in a year, Chinese researchers say, as the country remains the only major economy sticking with a zero-COVID policy and scrutiny over the strategy at the Beijing Olympics intensifies.
Easing curbs in “COVID-zero regions” like China will cause come 2 million deaths in a year.
That’s according to Chinese researchers.
The study came as China’s “zero-COVID” restrictions have come under growing scrutiny as it hosts the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
China is the only major economy sticking with a zero-COVID policy, despite warnings that it could hurt growth.
Others, like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, have abandoned the strategy in favor of what policymakers call “learning to live with COVID”.
Researchers used studies from Chile and Britain to calculate the “baseline efficacy” of current vaccines.
They estimated even with a global vaccination rate of 95%, if population mobility was restored to 2019 levels, all COVID-zero regions would see more than 234 million infections within a year, including 64 million symptomatic cases and 2 million deaths.
The researchers added that the key to controlling the virus is developing vaccines that are better at preventing infection.
Jaya Dantas, a professor of international health in Australia, said that throughout the world, everyone else has moved on and that the paper was quote “very pessimistic.”
She added the study is quote “an in-house document… which might want to support the government’s policy”.
Hong Kong is following the mainland’s strategy.
The global financial hub reported a record 614 new COVID-19 cases on Monday (February 7), according to health authorities.
The former British colony and global financial hubhas become one of the most isolated cities in the world.
The restrictions have caused shortages and rising costs in imported foreign food.
Residents crowded supermarkets and neighborhood food markets on Monday (February 7) to stock up on food and necessities as transport is disrupted at the border with mainland China.
Health experts said the city’s current strategy of shutting itself off as the rest of the world shifts to living with coronavirus, is not sustainable.
