The health authority of China reported this Monday that the country left behind the worst wave of COVID-19 started last December and closed the holidays for the Lunar New Year without a significant increase in cases
According to the National Center for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, the infections were caused by the BF.7 and BA.5.2 strains of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and no new mutations were detected, according to a report from the agency Latin Press (PL).
#China‘s current wave of #Covid19 infections is “coming to an end,” official sources said.https://t.co/M1i4Aenw2g
— Europe Brief News (@BriefEurope) January 30, 2023
In hospitals, the trend is towards a drop in the numbers of individuals with fever, admissions, patients in critical condition and deaths, which reached a peak of 4,273 on January 4.
The Center continues to monitor the mutations of the coronavirus and international passengers, to prevent the entry and spread of the most dangerous variants of the Omicron.
PL recalls that the most recent wave of COVID-19 in China broke out with force at the beginning of last December and official statistics mentioned around 70,000 deaths and close to 90% of the population infected, with thousands of critical cases among the elderly .
Different forecasts agree that the country will experience another two major outbreaks between February and next March, since millions of people will still travel through the territory returning from vacation.
On January 8, the Chinese government downgraded the emergency level with which it manages the pathology and eliminated more health controls to focus on seriously ill patients and expand vaccination while living with the disease and the virus that causes it.
This implies the end of quarantines for those arriving from abroad, Hong Kong and Macao. However, those travelers still need negative results from a test taken 48 hours before arriving in the country and wear masks during the journey.
Despite the better situation of the pandemic in its most worrying focus in the last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) today considered that COVID-19 remains a health emergency of international scope because it continues to be “a dangerous infectious disease” that can cause considerable damage to the health of people and to the health systems of countries.
The Emergency Committee advised the DG that the #COVID19 pandemic remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. @DrTedros accepted the advice of the Committee.
See their statement:
? https://t.co/1fKPcWh1JN pic.twitter.com/4TMnU3s4P0— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 30, 2023
In a statement adopted by the director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on the recommendation of the organization’s Emergency Committee, it is also recognized that the pandemic has entered a “transition” phase, which may give way to the alarm level will come to an end in the coming months, reports a dispatch from the agency efe.
The experts of the Emergency Committee have indicated in their recommendation to Tedros that now we must reflect on how to move from an emergency phase to a normal phase, in which the virus can be lived safely.
