Official figures show no one died of Covid on Wednesday but there is skepticism about the data.
December 22, 2022 7:18 am
(updated at 08:44)
China on Tuesday reported five coronavirusrelated deaths as cases of COVID19 spread across the country.
Photo: EPA/BBC News Brazil
Hospitals in China appear to be filling up amid concerns about the new wave of Covid19 hitting the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s emergency department, said intensive care units (ICUs) were full, although officials said the numbers were “relatively low”.
Official data shows that no one died from Covid as of Wednesday (21/12), but there is skepticism about the true impact of the disease.
In recent days, hospitals in Beijing and other cities have been overwhelmed as the new wave of Covid hit the country.
Since 2020, China has imposed strict restrictions as part of its “Covid Zero” policy.
But most of these measures were lifted by the government two weeks ago after historic protests against the strict controls.
Since then, the number of cases has skyrocketed, raising fears of a high death rate among the elderly, who are particularly at risk.
Despite the surge, official figures show that just five people died of Covid on Tuesday (12/20) and two on Monday (19).
This prompted WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan to urge China to provide more information on the new wave of virus spread.
“A relatively small number of cases in intensive care units have been reported (officially) in China, but intensive care units are reportedly filling up,” he said.
“We’ve been saying this for weeks that it will always be very difficult to completely stop this highly contagious virus with public health and social measures alone.”
At his weekly press conference in Geneva, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “very concerned about the developing situation in China”.
He asked for specific data on the severity of the disease, hospital admissions and the need for intensive care.
Ryan added that “vaccination is the escape strategy” from coronavirus outbreaks.
China has developed and manufactured its own vaccines, which have proven less effective at protecting people from serious illness and death from Covid than the mRNA vaccines used in much of the rest of the world.
His remarks came as the federal government announced on Wednesday that it had shipped its first batch of BioNTech Covid19 vaccines to China.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) urged that German BioNTech vaccines be made available to Chinese citizens
Photo: EPA/BBC News Brazil
German vaccines are initially to be used on expatriates in China it is estimated that there are around 20,000.
It is the first foreign Covid19 vaccine to be shipped to China, although details on the arrival date or the size of the shipment have not yet been announced.
During a visit to Beijing last month, Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged that the vaccine be made available to Chinese citizens free of charge.
This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional64063055
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