Photo : AP
In a complete reversal of their zero-covid policy following protests by citizens, the Chinese government has announced that incoming travellers would no longer have to quarantine from January 8.
It is likely that the virus will now be able to circulate among nearly one-fifth of the world’s population — almost all of whom lack immunity from the previous infection and many of whom remain unvaccinated. Other nations and experts fear China will become fertile ground for new variants.
“The fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates conditions prone to emerging variants,” Flahault said, referring to the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease.
In response to the surging cases, the United States, Italy, Japan, India and Malaysia announced this week they would increase health measures for travellers from China.
The lack of transparent data from China — particularly about viral genomic sequencing — is making it “increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread”, US officials said according to an AFP report.
“It has mobilized all resources and made every effort to protect people’s life and health, managing to contain rounds of outbreaks and tiding over the most difficult period where the virus runs rampant,” he was quoted as saying by Chinese state media.
