In December, China abruptly abandoned its draconian “zero-Covid” policies, battered by a surge of infections and rising public anger against lockdowns. Half a year on, Covid cases again are on the rise, but this time, the nation appears to be determined to press on with normal life as the government focuses on reigniting economic growth.
Chinese health authorities have reported a rise in Covid cases since April, especially from newer subvariants that are spreading across the world. Dr Zhong Nanshan, a prominent doctor who was among the first to openly confirm in early 2020 that Covid could easily spread among people, estimated Monday that by late June, as many as 65 million people a week could become infected with the coronavirus across China. (That would be up from what he estimated at 40 million infections a week in late May. China no longer publishes regular official nationwide estimates of infections.)
By comparison, after “zero-Covid” controls were set aside in December, new infections reached 37 million a day in China at their peak, according to estimates cited by Bloomberg.
Even if, as Zhong acknowledged, the pace of rising infections is laden with uncertainty, a rebound in cases was always likely, and many in China appear steeled to living with a background hum of Covid infections and sometimes Covid deaths.
Officials across China appear to be trying to prepare the population for a rise in infections without reintroducing the heavy controls that by late last year had exhausted public patience. Since abandoning its tight restrictions on domestic travel, the government has shifted to reviving growth and job creation. The jobless rate of about 20% among urban youth may appear more politically pressing than rising Covid numbers.
More worrisome are older people, many of whom have not had Covid and who may not have received a full round of vaccination shots. Up to three-quarters of Chinese people infected in the recent rise were not infected in the first wave, said Dr. Zhang Wenhong, the director of the center for infectious diseases at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai.
Nonetheless, the resurgence in cases “should not have a huge impact overall on economic activity and life,” Zhang said. “We should not go too far” in taking pandemic prevention measures in response, he added.
Chinese health authorities have reported a rise in Covid cases since April, especially from newer subvariants that are spreading across the world. Dr Zhong Nanshan, a prominent doctor who was among the first to openly confirm in early 2020 that Covid could easily spread among people, estimated Monday that by late June, as many as 65 million people a week could become infected with the coronavirus across China. (That would be up from what he estimated at 40 million infections a week in late May. China no longer publishes regular official nationwide estimates of infections.)
By comparison, after “zero-Covid” controls were set aside in December, new infections reached 37 million a day in China at their peak, according to estimates cited by Bloomberg.
Even if, as Zhong acknowledged, the pace of rising infections is laden with uncertainty, a rebound in cases was always likely, and many in China appear steeled to living with a background hum of Covid infections and sometimes Covid deaths.
Officials across China appear to be trying to prepare the population for a rise in infections without reintroducing the heavy controls that by late last year had exhausted public patience. Since abandoning its tight restrictions on domestic travel, the government has shifted to reviving growth and job creation. The jobless rate of about 20% among urban youth may appear more politically pressing than rising Covid numbers.
More worrisome are older people, many of whom have not had Covid and who may not have received a full round of vaccination shots. Up to three-quarters of Chinese people infected in the recent rise were not infected in the first wave, said Dr. Zhang Wenhong, the director of the center for infectious diseases at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai.
Nonetheless, the resurgence in cases “should not have a huge impact overall on economic activity and life,” Zhang said. “We should not go too far” in taking pandemic prevention measures in response, he added.