Topline
China’s health officials on Wednesday announced that going forward the country’s daily Covid-19 case numbers will leave out people with asymptomatic infections—a group that made up a large majority of new cases everyday—amid reports that major cities are witnessing a new surge in cases after national authorities rolled backed many of the harshest pandemic measures last week.
This frame grab from AFPTV video footage shows people queueing outside a fever clinic in Beijing.
Key Facts
In its daily report on Wednesday, China’s National Health Commission mentioned only 2,291 new “confirmed” cases nationwide, adding it is “impossible to get accurate statistics for asymptomatic cases” as many individuals with asymptomatic infections are choosing not to get tested.
Last week, as part of a set of sweeping changes to the country’s pandemic fighting approach Chinese officials ditched mandatory mass testing in cities reporting outbreaks making PCR swab tests voluntary for most people.
Since that change, there has been a sharp decline in the number of new cases reported daily in the country, which was likely an outcome of fewer people getting tested.
Despite the smaller number of reported cases, several major cities across China—especially the capital Beijing—are reportedly witnessing a massive surge in infections.
According to the Associated Press, several people are thronging fever clinics across Beijing—whose numbers have grown from 94 to 303 recently—and pharmacies, where cold and flu medications and rapid antigen tests are in short supply.
In Shanghai, China’s biggest city and its financial hub, at least seven schools have halted in-person classes due to Covid-19 cases, Reuters reported.
News Peg
On Tuesday, the WHO said that China is facing a “very tough and difficult time” as it tries to rapidly shift away from its earlier stringent Covid-19 restrictions. Pointing to the example of Australia—which saw a similar surge after ditching its zero-Covid approach last year—WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: “It’s always very difficult for any country coming out of a situation where you’ve had very, very tight controls…We’ve always said before: don’t go into lockdown too easily and too quickly because it’s really, really hard to come out.”
Key Background
Last week, the Chinese National Health Commission outlined a ten point plan that effectively rolled back China’s “zero-Covid” in all but name only. The shift in policy came after China saw unprecedented public protests across several major cities calling out the draconian anti-pandemic measures and even China’s leader Xi Jinping who had vocally backed the approach. Under China’s so-called “dynamic zero-Covid” approach relied on harsh citywide lockdowns, repeated mass testing and forced quarantine government facilities to stomp out local spread of the virus. But this approach became increasingly untenable with the emergence of more infectious variants and subvariants of the coronavirus. Without explicitly mentioning “zero-Covid” the Health Commission’s document dismantled several of its key measures including allowing people with mild infections to self isolate at home and narrow the scope of lockdowns to specific buildings, floors or even households instead of entire neighborhoods and cities. The document also encouraged the use of the less effective but easier to use rapid antigen test over RT-PCR tests. Earlier this week, China also shutdown its national Covid tracking app which used to be mandatory for all people travelling anywhere inside the country.
Further Reading
China reduces COVID-19 case number reporting as virus surges (Associated Press)
‘Tough times’: Warnings sound over China’s rapid ‘zero-COVID’ exit (Reuters)
China Appears To Ditch Zero-Covid In Overhaul To Pandemic Rules (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/12/14/china-scales-back-reporting-of-daily-covid-numbers-as-infections-rise-in-major-cities/