China sees surge in COVID-19 cases; Lockdown unlikely

Beijing: In December, China abruptly abandoned its “Zero COVID” policies amid growing outbreaks of infections and rising public anger against the lockdown. The New York Times reported that Covid cases are on the rise again, but this time the nation appears determined to press on with normal life, as the government focuses on economic growth.

While other countries have long settled into such patterns, this is a change for China. As late as last year, its national leadership was still poised to seal off entire neighborhoods and districts, even cities, sometimes to stamp out small clusters of cases. The New York Times is a daily newspaper based in New York City with readers worldwide.

Chinese health authorities have reported an increase in COVID cases since April, especially from new subvariants spreading around the world. Zhong Nanshan, a prominent doctor who was among the first to openly confirm in early 2020 that COVID can spread easily between people, estimated earlier this week that by the end of June 65 million people in the U.S. could be infected with the coronavirus in a week.

This would exceed estimates of 40 million infections a week in late May. The New York Times reported that China no longer publishes regular official nationwide estimates of infections.

By comparison, in December after “zero Covid” controls were set aside, new infections in China reached 37 million a day, according to the report.
Even though, as Zhong acknowledged, the pace of rising infections is fraught with uncertainty, there was always the potential for cases to return, and many people in China appear steely to live with a backdrop of Covid infections, and sometimes- Never died of Covid, The New York Times reported.

“People have become accustomed to infection, and they see it as normal in the post-Covid era,” Lin Zixian, 36, who works for a technology company in Beijing, said in a telephone interview. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, still often wears a medical mask when he meets people indoors.

But Lin said he and other family members have stopped wearing masks in most public places, as have many people in China, The New York Times reported.
It appears that authorities across China are trying to prepare populations for a surge in infections without reintroducing the heavy controls that exhausted public patience late last year.

Since dropping its strict restrictions on domestic travel, the government has moved to revive growth and job creation. The New York Times pointed out that an unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent among urban youth may seem more politically pressing than rising Covid numbers.

Health officials in Beijing have recommended wearing masks on buses and subways, but it is not mandatory and some commuters do not, especially young people. Although the recent increase in cases may still put pressure on hospitals, many people appear more willing to endure the illness at home rather than visit fever clinics.

For many younger patients, an infection with fever and other symptoms can mean a week or two. In recent weeks, people have chronicled their symptoms on social media, often in a tone of languid resignation.

More problematic are older people, many of whom have not had Covid and may not have received a full round of vaccination shots. Zhang Wenhong, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at Shanghai’s Huashan Hospital and a leading voice in China’s response to Covid, said three-quarters of Chinese people infected in the recent surge were not infected in the first wave. The New York Times reported that recent interviews with Chinese media outlets.

China should increase vaccination rates, especially among older people; Upgrade your homegrown vaccine for better protection against the new variant; allow the introduction of internationally developed vaccines; Experts say that making anti-covid drugs cheaper and more available to covid patients.

This news article was written by Chris Buckley for The New York Times. He is The Times’ chief correspondent in China, where he has lived for more than 30 years after growing up in Sydney, Australia.