The situation – The decision to abandon the “zero Covid” policy in early December and lift most of the restrictions in place since 2020, after protests by people angry at the police’s handling of the pandemic were quashed, backfired. The country is at risk of being overwhelmed by a suddenly out-of-control rise in the infection curve and an increase in the number of deaths, which authorities are trying to hide but which crematoria, now in crisis over too many bodies, are in reveal all their drama. A situation that could get worse due to possible new mutations of the virus.
New mutations are feared – “We know that as the virus spreads, it can mutate and pose a threat,” the US State Department spokesman said Ned price. India’s federal health ministry has also sounded the alarm, directing state agencies to push genome sequencing of Covid cases because of the “sudden spike” in cases in China, but also in the US, Japan, South Korea and Brazil to track all new variants .
“Rows of coffins in the crematoria” – Chinese authorities have admitted it is “impossible” for the system to track the number of new cases, and the official count has conflicted with reports of deaths and the increased work of funeral homes. Testimonies from all over the country confirm that the crematoria are overburdened. “The number of bodies collected in recent days is many times higher than in the past,” said a worker in Chongqinq, a city of 30 million where authorities this week asked those with mild Covid symptoms to leave , told AFP. In the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, an employee at the Zengcheng District Crematorium spoke of more than 30 bodies being cremated every day. Another testimony came from the city of Shenyang, where a funeral home worker denounced that the crematoria were “absolutely full” and the bodies had been waiting for up to five days.
It has been impossible to check the number of deaths in Beijing, where there have been five deaths from Covid on Tuesday, according to authorities. But AFP reporters saw more than a dozen vehicles, mostly hearses, lining up to enter the Dongjiao crematorium. The risk that the long wave of contagion could have a severe impact on the economy was confirmed by data from the World Bank, which also revised down its growth forecasts for China this year and 2023 sharply, citing “significant risks” related to Covid real estate crisis.
In its previous June forecasts, the institute was already concerned about the development of the second world economy, then under the yoke of “zero Covid”: It indicated 4.3% GDP growth in 2022 and 8.1% in 2023 . Now the World Bank estimates China’s economy will grow at 2.7% in 2022 and 4.3% next year. “China’s growth prospects are subject to significant risks,” said the institute, referring to “the uncertain course of the pandemic”.
Bassetti: “Be very careful with those who come from China” – “The Chinese situation regarding Covid is really worrying: the virus is circulating and causing significant damage. Millions of infected, thousands of dead and crematorium ovens on an incline, with queues and unprecedented expectations for the cremation of corpses. The Chinese situation must be monitored very carefully”, writes the Genoese specialist in infectious diseases on Facebook Matthew Bassetti. “This – stresses Bassetti – is the result of 3 years of mistakes: they did not vaccinate those who needed to be vaccinated with vaccines that work and they did not invest in medicines and treatments for Covid. Millions of deaths are expected. And should we worry? Can a mutated and more aggressive virus return from China from those areas with the same lethality as in 2020 or even worse.”