Covid-19 in China

[Randy W]

Coronavirus in China: Beijing urges new vaccination drive as next Covid wave looms

• China’s top health agency urges elderly and vulnerable groups to get vaccinated ahead of cooler autumn weather
• Highly transmissible Omicron subvariant XBB is now the dominant strain of the virus in China

from the SCMP

With cooler seasons on the way, Beijing hopes to avoid a repeat of the Covid wave that slammed the country last year. Photo: AFP
 

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Last winter, many elderly Chinese – mostly unvaccinated – were caught as a new wave of the virus swept across the country, soon after Beijing abandoned its zero-Covid policy. Many hospitals and funeral homes were overwhelmed as a result.

By the spring, the highly contagious XBB subvariant had become the dominant form of the virus in China, according to the NHC. A mass infection was likely to occur in the Chinese population because it had weaker neutralising serum antibodies to fight XBB, the authorities said.

After dropping its strict zero-Covid policy, Beijing began promoting drives to vaccinate the population, with “positive progress” to vaccinate more than 1.3 billion people nationwide, the plan said.

 

 

[Randy W]

China Removes All Pre-Entry COVID-19 Testing Requirements for Inbound Travelers

August 28, 2023Posted by China Briefing

On August 28, 2023, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made a significant declaration. Starting from August 30, 2023, travelers heading to China will not have to undergo COVID-19 nucleic acid tests or antigen tests.

The withdrawal of COVID-19 testing requirements will considerably ease the entry process for travelers coming to China.

This will improve travel convenience and is a big step towards normalizing travel procedures in China. It also aligns with the government’s efforts to fully reopen the Chinese economy and revive its travel industry and allied sectors.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

China cancels health declaration procedure for entry and exit starting Nov 1

from the Global Times 

Published: Oct 31, 2023 11:04 AM

China cancels health declaration procedure for entry and exit starting Nov 1

 

 

[Randy W]

This doesn't appear to be any kind of a new outbreak, but rather an attempt by the WHO to stay AHEAD of any potential outbreak.

WHO asks China for detail on respiratory illness outbreaks

Reuters

November 23, 20236:42 PM GMT+8Updated 22 min ago

 

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked China for details on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children, which its China office on Thursday called a "routine" check.

Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission held a press conference on Nov. 13 to report an increase in incidence of respiratory disease.

Authorities attributed the increase to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae, a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the virus that causes COVID-19.

Both China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting on the earliest COVID-19 cases that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

On Wednesday, the WHO said groups including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in north China. The WHO said it was not clear if these were associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities or separate events.

 

 

[Randy W]

 . . . and from the SCMP

WHO presses China for details amid outbreak of respiratory illness among children

The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked China to provide details after an outbreak of a respiratory illness among children in the country. Read more: https://sc.mp/bij2

https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/1095380208489952/

China gets WHO note seeking details after surge in respiratory illness among children

• WHO request follows reports about overcrowded fever clinics, hospital emergency rooms and children’s wards as multiple winter pathogens circulate
• Chinese officials and experts have so far attributed the surge in northern China to the lifting of Covid-19 measures

 

 

[Randy W]

I think it is MUCH more widespread in China than I was aware, but not anywhere near us

W.H.O. Says China Has Shared Data Indicating No Novel Pathogen
The W.H.O. had requested detailed information about a reported surge in respiratory illnesses in children in China. Chinese data suggested the surge was caused by known bacteria and viruses.

from the NY Times

Children receiving intravenous drips at a hospital in Beijing on Thursday.Credit...Jade Gao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
 

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The W.H.O. requested information after Chinese news reports, and social media posts, indicated a notable surge in sick children in recent weeks. Parents reported long lines, sometimes of eight hours or more, at children’s hospitals. China’s National Health Commission acknowledged the reports of overcrowding.

 . . .

China’s transparency in reporting outbreaks has been the subject of intense global scrutiny, after it covered up early cases of both the SARS virus in 2003 and the virus that led to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The W.H.O. early this year rebuked Chinese officials for withholding data that the agency said could shed light on the coronavirus’s origins.

The W.H.O. issued its formal request for data one day after a ProMED member shared a news report from Taiwan about an uptick in sick children in Beijing and Liaoning, a northeastern Chinese province. Chinese officials had already publicly acknowledged an increase in respiratory diseases among children, but the W.H.O. said it was unclear at the time whether that increase was caused by known pathogens.

“A key purpose was to identify whether there have been ‘clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia’ in Beijing and Liaoning, as referred to in media reports,” the W.H.O. statement said.

The W.H.O. said the increased infections in China were earlier in the season than historically expected but “not unexpected,” given that this was the first winter since China had lifted the stringent coronavirus restrictions it imposed in 2020. Other countries   experienced similar leaps in other illnesses after lifting their Covid controls.

 

 

[Martin B]

Wonder if this could be part of the "immunity debt" - China was on lockdown, hyper-sterilized, super-masked for years, and normal illnesses are now re-appearing and running their course. The US had massive issue with RSV fall/winter 2022 after everything opened up, and smaller kids were hit the hardest.

[Randy W]

5 hours ago, Barfus said:

Wonder if this could be part of the "immunity debt" - China was on lockdown, hyper-sterilized, super-masked for years, and normal illnesses are now re-appearing and running their course. The US had massive issue with RSV fall/winter 2022 after everything opened up, and smaller kids were hit the hardest.

Yes, I think you are correct. But, because of China's lack of transparency, you can't be sure. Incoming foreign visitors won't be aware of the situation, or might hear about it through the foreign media and decide not to come at all.

[Randy W]

It's only beginning to be covered in the Western media - Ground news shows 258 articles in the Western media, and only one in China (the one above from the Global Times)

[Randy W]

China is now calling it "Winter Respiratory Illness Season".

[Randy W]

from abcNews

1. Chinese researchers isolated and mapped the virus that causes Covid-19 at least two weeks before Beijing revealed details of the virus to the world, congressional investigators said.

Chinese officials in December 2019 were still publicly calling the outbreak in Wuhan (🔐 read for free) a viral pneumonia “of unknown cause” and had yet to close a market that was the site of an initial outbreak. The extra weeks could have proved crucial in helping the international medical community pinpoint how Covid spread, develop medical defenses and start on a vaccine, specialists have said. “China has kept refining our COVID response based on science to make it more targeted,” a Chinese Embassy spokesperson said. “China’s COVID response policies are science-based, effective, and consistent with China’s national realities. They can stand the test of history.” The new information doesn’t shed light on whether Covid came from an infected animal or a lab leak.

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