Experts fear that a new variant will emerge from the outbreak in China
Amidst the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus across the country, China's younger generation is suffering the most from the lack of medical services. They are ignoring all health warnings and going out to invite infection, The HK Post reported.
They argue that if they get infected and are quarantined at home for 14 days, they will recover and acquire immunity to the virus.
Such immature reasoning has resulted in thousands of young people contracting the virus, many even developing complications – a prospect they never thought possible. And they face unexpected difficulties due to lack of access to health services.
Also, the Chinese people in general are not very enthusiastic about China-made vaccines. They suspect that vaccines hardly work and give low immunity levels. According to the HK Post report, foreign vaccines are available on the black market, but ordinary citizens cannot afford the high prices.
The government, completely unprepared for the complexities that lie ahead, unlike in the past, is now a firm believer in the principle of herd immunity coming to its rescue one day or the other.
There is no clarity on the number of infections as the communist government is refusing to release any data. The HK Post reported that Western media claim infections would be in the millions, and that the number of deaths would be rising beyond imagination.
Government or private hospitals are all full. There is no place to admit more patients. There is no question of getting a bed. The passageways and corridors are full of patients lying on the damp floor.
Most patients are left to their own devices outside the government health system. Millions of people do not have access to medicine, oxygen, respirators or other medical equipment. The only thing they have access to is a medical drip.
Due to these inadequacies, there is a growing fear of the elderly dying from the infection or their co-morbidities. As The HK Post reports, most older patients are developing other health complications, especially lung infections, during this time.
Meanwhile, after spending weeks and months in their homes, people in general are venturing out with a vengeance. At least in the big cities, they are returning to malls, restaurants and parks, and are even queuing up for visas and tourist permits. The state-run Global Times newspaper declared "normal times are back", attributing the line to interviews with Chinese.
If normal days are indeed back, it is inconvenient for many people to return to normalcy.
For three years, state-run media presented the virus as a looming threat to society, saying it would achieve "dynamic zero-Covid" to keep the population safe. But the rhetoric has been turned on its head in recent weeks, with doctors regularly calling for calm in the face of confusion.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which has largely taken a soft approach to China's lack of transparency, has directly called out the Chinese government. As several countries such as the United States and Australia introduce new testing demands for Chinese travelers, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said these policies were "understandable" in the "lack of comprehensive information" from China.
The WHO criticized its "narrow" definition of a Covid death, as top global health officials urge Beijing to share more data about the explosive spread.
A media report states that China "lists only those Covid patients who died due to respiratory failure as having died of Covid". In the two weeks prior to January 5, China reported fewer than 20 deaths from local Covid cases, according to data released on the website of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – even as "hospitals" in the midst of the outbreak And there was great destruction in the cremation grounds. Visible Covid surge in many cities.
Experts fear that a new variant will emerge from the outbreak in China.
No comments:
Post a Comment