China monitors possible virus variations – a million infections a day, Zelenskyy’s will to persevere and Putin’s perseverance slogans

In the massive corona wave in China, with currently an estimated one million new infections per day, the Chinese health authorities are also monitoring the possible development of new virus variants. All provinces should select three hospitals in three cities each, which would collect samples of 15 infections, 10 serious illnesses and all deaths each week, Xu Wenbo, director of the National Health Bureau’s Virus Institute, said, according to state media on Friday.

After decoding and analyzing the genomes, the research results should be reported within a week. The official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying that current Omicron variants and “possible symptoms, transmission possibilities and pathogenicity of new variants with potential biological changes” could be observed in real time.

According to model calculations by the London-based research institute Airfinity, the current wave of infections in China will have two peaks in January and March with possibly 3.7 million and 4.2 million cases per day respectively. Currently, the data processor estimates the number of new infections in China at probably more than one million and the number of deaths at more than 5,000 per day, according to a press release.

After nearly three years of lockdowns, enforced quarantines, mass testing and contact tracing, the most populous country abruptly lifted its hardline zero-Covid policy on December 7. The reason for the turnaround was that the infections with the new Omicron variants were no longer as serious. But experts saw the reason mainly in the fact that the strict measures could no longer be maintained in view of the explosive spread. The rigorous restrictions also placed increasing pressure on the second-largest economy. (aeg/sda/dpa)