The head of the World Health Organization said the agency is “very concerned” about increasing reports of severe coronavirus disease in China after the country. largely abandoned its “zero Covid” policywarning that its lagging vaccination rate could result in large numbers of vulnerable people becoming infected.
At a news conference on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN agency needs more information on Covid-19 severity in Chinain particular with regard to admissions to hospitals and intensive care units, “to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation on the ground.”
“WHO is very concerned about the development of the situation in China with increasing reports of serious illnesses,” Tedros said. He added that while Covid deaths have fallen more than 90% from their global peak, there were still too many uncertainties about the virus to conclude that the pandemic is over.
Some scientists have warned that the rampant spread of COVID-19 in China could spur the emergence of new variants, potentially upending global gains in containing the pandemic.
“Vaccination is omicron’s exit strategy,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergencies.
Ryan said the explosive increase in cases in China was not solely due to the lifting of many of the country’s restrictive policies and that it was impossible to stop the transmission of omicron, the most highly infectious variant of covid-19 seen so far.
He said vaccination rates among people over 60 in China lagged behind many other countries, and the efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines was around 50%.
“That’s not adequate protection in a population as large as China, with so many vulnerable people,” Ryan said. He added that while China has dramatically increased its ability to vaccinate people in recent weeks, it’s unclear if that will be enough.
To date, China has refused to license Western-made mRNA vaccines, which have been shown to be more effective than locally-made vaccines. Beijing agreed to allow the importation of a shipment of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine for Germans living in China.
“The question remains whether or not enough vaccination can be done in the next week or two that will really mitigate the impact of the second wave and the burden on the healthcare system,” Ryan said.
Like Tedros, he said the WHO did not have sufficient information on the extent of severe illness and hospitalization, but noted that nearly all countries overwhelmed by Covid-19 had struggled to share that data in real time.
Ryan also suggested China’s definition of Covid deaths was too narrow, saying the country was limiting it to people who had suffered respiratory failure.
“People who are dying from covid are dying from many different (organ) system failures, given the severity of the infection,” Ryan said. “Therefore, limiting a diagnosis of COVID death to someone with a positive COVID test and respiratory failure will greatly underestimate the true number of COVID-associated deaths.” Countries like Britain, for example, define any covid death as someone who has died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
Globally, almost every country has grappled with how to count covid deaths, and the official figures are believed to be a gross underestimate. In May, the WHO estimated that there were nearly 15 million coronavirus deaths worldwide, more than double the official figure of 6 million.
