What is going on with Covid in China? The importance of an immediate response

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• Dec 21, 2022 | Dhupali Das

According to some estimates, the current increase in Covid-19 cases puts China in danger of 2 million fatalities...

Digital Desk: Alarm bells are ringing once again. China is struggling with an inexplicable increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases. Unlike in 2019, when the new coronavirus initially disrupted our lives, there is no mystery virus behind the rise in infections. Until 2019, scientists do not need to scramble to figure out how this virus spreads or how to best tackle it. However, just like in 2019, we don't have a whole picture of what's going on in China.

According to some estimates, the current increase in Covid-19 cases puts China in danger of 2 million fatalities. In a now-viral tweet, one epidemiologist predicted that 60% of the country's population might become infected during the following few months.

With such bleak headlines, you'd expect answers to obvious questions like: Why are Covid-19 cases increasing in China? Is a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to blame? What steps is China taking to stop the spread of COVID-19 within its borders and stop the disease from spreading to other countries?

These queries exist. and some wild speculation. No hard solutions, though. China, being China, has remained silent on the country's Covid problem. China kept quiet while pursuing a brutal zero-Covid policy that resulted in protracted demonstrations around the country. Beijing was forced by such demonstrations to relax the country's restrictions. The current increase in cases is a direct result of this. China, however, has remained silent and will continue to do so.

It's a concerning throwback to late 2019 and early 2020 when China announced the first cases of Covid-19 ever recorded worldwide. We had no prior knowledge of the virus that would later wreak havoc on the world. China was also charged with wasting time and failing to alert the world to the seriousness of the crisis in time.

There's no point weeping over lost milk when so much has already been written and spoken about China's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak. But the question now is whether history will repeat itself.

While China confronts its Covid crisis, the rest of the world going about its business, having mostly forgotten about the pandemic. This is why it is critical for China to be open, upfront, and communicative about its Covid issue, lest the world falls into a false sense of complacency, which might have disastrous effects if instances surge in other countries.

Are insufficient vaccinations to blame for the Covid crisis in China? Or is the increase caused by a brand-new coronavirus variant? Do nations need to impose travel restrictions to and from China to avoid a recurrence of 2019? Or should the globe consider giving its inhabitants a second dose of the Covid vaccination in light of the recent increase in cases? And, equally important, will this new Covid wave in China disrupt an already unstable global economy?

Answers to these questions are critical if we want to know whether or not we should be concerned. As we enter another year with Covid remaining in existence, answers to these and other comparable concerns will determine the best course of action for countries.

These responses are only possible if China breaks with its longstanding practice of keeping its domestic issues private. The Covid virus recognizes no borders or nations. This is why China must be open about its current Covid dilemma and provide vital details to the world so that it may better prepare for what is to come. Being secret about Covid-19 didn't help in 2019, and it won't help now.