BEIJING, Jan 4 — No new coronavirus variant has been found in China, data released by the World Health Organisation showed today, easing some concerns about an outbreak that has spread rapidly there since Beijing abruptly reversed its “zero Covid” policy.
Meanwhile, health officials abroad have been struggling to work out the scale of the outbreak and how to stop it spreading, with more countries introducing measures such pre-departure Covid tests for arrivals from China, moves that Beijing has criticised.WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing the UN agency was continuing to seek more rapid and regular data from China on hospitalisations and deaths, adding that he was concerned for the lives of China’s citizens.
Omicron is the dominant variant based on recent genomic sequencing, confirming what scientists had already said but which will allay concerns for now about a new variant emerging.Many Chinese funeral homes and hospitals say they are overwhelmed, and international health experts predict at least 1 million Covid-related deaths in China this year. China has reported five or fewer deaths a day since the policy U-turn.
China’s cabinet said today it would step up medicine distribution and meet demand from medical institutions, nursing homes and rural areas, state media reported. Willie Walsh, head of the world’s biggest airline association IATA, criticised such “knee-jerk” measures that he said had not previously stopped the spread of a virus that had hammered airlines which are recovering from the pandemic.
British-based health data firm Airfinity has estimated about 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from Covid.
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