Patients on stretchers are seen at Tongren hospital in Shanghai on January 3
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)China has used its mouthpiece newspaper to rally citizens towards what it claims would be a “final victory” over Covid-19, as global health officials try to determine the facts behind the country’s outbreak.
People's Daily, which is read by millions across China, made the proclamation in an editorial on Wednesday.
The country has decided to scrap its stringent virus curbs, which has led to Covid-19 cases rising with the 1.4 billion population having built up relatively little immunity since it emerged in Wuhan three years ago.
Funeral homes have reported a spike in demand for their services, hospitals are packed with patients, and international health experts predict at least one million deaths in China in the year ahead.
But officially, China has reported a small number of Covid-related deaths since the policy U-turn and has played down concerns about a disease that it was previously at pains to eradicate through mass lockdowns even as the rest of the world opened up.
“China and the Chinese people will surely win the final victory against the epidemic,” Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily said in an editorial, rebutting criticism of its tough anti-virus regime that triggered historic protests late last year.
As it now dismantles those restrictions, China has been particularly critical of decisions by some countries to require a Covid test on its citizens, saying they are unreasonable and lack scientific basis.
Japan became the latest country to mandate pre-departure Covid testing for travellers from China, following similar measures by the United States, Britain, South Korea and others.
Health officials from the 27-member European Union are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss a coordinated response to China travel. Most European Union countries favour pre-departure Covid testing for visitors from China.
China, which has been largely shut off from the world since the pandemic began in late 2019, will stop requiring inbound travellers to quarantine from January 8. But it will still demand that arriving passengers get tested before they begin their journeys.
Meanwhile, World Health Organisation officials met Chinese scientists on Tuesday amid concern over the accuracy of China's data on the spread and evolution of its outbreak.
The United Nations agency had invited the scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing and to share data on hospitalisations, deaths and vaccinations.
The organisation said it would release information about the talks later, probably at a Wednesday briefing. The spokesperson earlier said the agency expected a “detailed discussion” about circulating variants in China, and globally.
China reported five new Covid-19 deaths for Tuesday, compared with three a day earlier, bringing the official death toll to 5,258, very low by global standards.
But the toll is widely believed to be much higher. British-based health data firm Airfinity has said about 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from Covid.
