China has declared a "major and decisive victory" in its fight against the Covid-19 outbreak that swept the country late last year, following Beijing's abrupt and unexpected abandonment of its zero-Covid policy. The dismantling of the stringent restrictions sparked a surge in cases that saw hospitals overwhelmed, crematoriums crowded, and people scrambling for basic medicines. But the outbreak appears to have subsided in intensity in recent weeks – and experts now say that Chinese leaders are seizing the moment to take control of the political narrative In a closed-door meeting on Thursday, overseen by President Xi Jinping, the ruling Communist Party's top decision-making body claimed that China had "created a miracle in human history" as it had "successfully pulled through a pandemic," state-run news agency Xinhua reported. According to the report, the committee claimed that China had managed to maintain the lowest fatality rate in the world – a metric that the country's leadership touted throughout the pandemic. But what does the data say? |
Questions remains about the impact of the recent Covid surge in China. |
The fatality rate is calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the total number of cases, but there are questions over how China measures both. Since the end of zero-Covid, China has officially recorded more than 80,000 fatalities caused by Covid-19. This figure counts people who tested positive for the virus and died in hospital. However, it excludes deaths that went untested, or those who died at home – a phenomenon referred to as silent suffering. Experts believe those excluded from the official count could be a significant group, which would paint a vastly different picture of China's handling of the virus. "There are still many questions about the death toll in China," said virologist Jin Dong-Yan, professor at the University of Hong Kong's School of Biomedical Sciences. The World Health Organization also criticized China for "under-representing" the severity of its recent outbreak. The number of cases is also unclear. Under zero-Covid, China installed a vast testing regimen, allowing the government to trace outbreaks to individual apartment blocks. But that no longer exists, and there is no clear data on the number of infections. Despite Beijing's boasts that the true fatality rate is low, it has not disclosed the figure. At a time when Beijing is attempting to reassure the public about its handling of the virus, China experts say that transparency is unlikely. Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, pointed to several international reports, based on modeling, which have placed the actual death toll at upwards of 1 million over the past two months. "You can't expect the government to admit to this," Huang said, "because people are going to ask the question – how could we have paid so much economic and social cost (from zero-Covid) to essentially come up with an outcome that is equal to if not worse to the (toll in the) US." IN OTHER NEWS
- Hong Kong's financial secretary expects its economy to grow between 3.5% and 5.5%, as the city opens up and China's economic outlook improves. "Hong Kong's exports of goods will still face severe challenges this year. However, the accelerated growth of the [Chinese] mainland economy coupled with the lifting of restrictions on cross-boundary truck movements should alleviate part of the pressure," Paul Chan said in a speech outlining the city's budget for the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year. Hong Kong is looking to revive its pandemic-battered economy through a raft of measures from cash handouts and tax cuts, to a drive to attract workers and investment amid competition from Singapore.
- There are signs that this drive is working. Standard Chartered is going on a hiring spree in Hong Kong this year, in a sign of renewed confidence in the city. The British bank said it would add 300 to 500 employees to its ranks of roughly 5,500 to 5,800 – a move that would lift its current headcount in Hong Kong by up to 9%. In a results presentation Friday, Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford said that the bank's operating income had returned to "around 2019 levels." HSBC, Hong Kong's leading bank, also flagged a strong performance in the city, and is anticipating a further boost in business due to China's reopening.
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| Global Cases 674,360,799 Global Deaths 6,864,657 |
| US Cases 103,170,118 US Deaths 1,117,838 |
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Source: Johns Hopkins University |
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Q Does a bout of Covid-19 offer protection against reinfection? A For at least 10 months after a Covid-19 infection, your immune system can provide good protection against symptomatic illness the next time around, a new study found, and the risk of severe illness is even lower. Ten-month immunity after Covid-19 infection seems strong against all variants of the coronavirus, according to the study, which is the largest review yet of available data. "There's quite a long sustained protection against severe disease and death, almost 90% at 10 months. It is much better than I had expected, and that's a good thing for the world, right? Given that most of the world has had Omicron," said Dr. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who conducted the research. Read the full report here. |
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"The safest way to get immunity is vaccination," Murray said, underlining that the study's findings don't suggest that people should skip a vaccine or booster. While a bout of Covid-19 might offer protection against reinfection, it could also land you in the hospital. As of February 8, only about 69% of the total US population has gotten their primary series of vaccines. And only about 16% has gotten a dose of the updated booster, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. |
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CORONAVIRUS: FACT vs FICTION |
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