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More than two years have passed since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. At that time, China decided to implement a restrictive “zero COVID-19” policy and in a short time minimized the number of new infections, basically beating the epidemic. Now, however, the situation is changing dramatically. Today China, as well as other Asian countries, are facing a rapidly increasing number of new infections.
- China is now setting records for the number of new coronavirus infections. There are more of them than ever before in a pandemic
- There are also new cases in South Korea, where a record of 16 was recorded on March 400. 741 new infections
- Vietnam is also currently facing record increases in positive tests
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COVID-19 hits China. More than ever before
The coronavirus pandemic, which has had a strong global impact for more than two years, began at a market in a Chinese city in Wuhan. It was at the end of December 2019. SARS-CoV-2 quickly crossed the border of the country, and later also the continent, and spread to every corner of our globe.
However, while the virus wreaked havoc in Europe over the next two years, consuming victims, straining hospital infrastructure to its limits and destroying national economies, it was quickly contained in China. The Chinese authorities decided to hard lockdown almost immediately, introducing a “zero COVID-19” policy and limiting the number of new infections to an absolute minimum. As waves from new COVID-19 variants swept across Europe, China continued to successfully defend itself against the pathogen. It turns out, however, that only for a time.
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Today, more than two years after the start of the pandemic, the zero COVID-19 policy is no longer working. Since 2020, the daily number of new infections in China has not exceeded 100. However, since the end of February, there are more cases. On March 10, there were already 528, a day later 555, and on March 12, 588. On March 13, according to worldometers.info data, there were 1938 new infections. March 15 brought another record: 3 thousand. 606 new infections.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 122 have become infected in China. 456 citizens. At the moment, there were 4 thousand fatalities. 636.
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Not only China. In these Asian countries, the virus is gaining momentum
The coronavirus makes itself felt not only in China. On March 12, an infection record was also recorded in South Korea. On that day, as many as 383 were detected there. 651 new cases. According to Reuters, there were even more confirmed cases on March 16 – 400 thousand 741. Since the beginning of the epidemic in this country, according to worldometers.info data, 7 people have contracted the coronavirus there. 629 people, of which 275 thousand. 11 died.
Saturday, March 12, also turned out to be record-breaking for Vietnam. That day, as many as 454 thousand were confirmed there. 197 positive coronavirus tests. There have never been so many infections in the epidemic. So far, 6 million 552 thousand people have contracted the coronavirus in Vietnam. 918 citizens, of which 41 thousand. 545 died.
Why is the number of infections in Asia rising?
It is clear that the epidemic in Asia is getting worse. Just like in European countries. The question remains, however, why this is so. Especially if you juxtapose China with its restrictive policy and European countries, which a month ago lifted almost all covid restrictions. In such a situation, one would expect that nothing bad should happen now in the Middle Kingdom.
According to drug. Bartosz Fiałek, a rheumatologist and science popularizer, the reason for the increases can be found in the Omikron sub-variant that is currently spreading around the world.
“We see an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in some European and Asian countries, which is probably a consequence of the emergence of the BA.2 sub-variant – the following study may explain this increase” – writes the specialist on his Facebook profile, citing the preprint of the study scientific evidence that the sub-variant is even more infectious than its predecessor.
Another problem is the low immunization of society against COVID-19. Although the vast majority of Chinese citizens have taken the first dose, in the case of seniors only a small group is already after the second injection. The situation is even worse when it comes to accepting a booster.
– It would be better if the elderly had been vaccinated in the last eight months, we could now avoid this huge problem – said Prof. Yuen Kwok-yung of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, government advisor on COVID. “Unfortunately, I think the elders will pay a huge price in this wave,” he added.
Do you want to test your COVID-19 immunity after vaccination? Have you been infected and want to check your antibody levels? See the COVID-19 immunity test package, which you will perform at Diagnostics network points.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we are talking about the war in Ukraine and the drama of our eastern neighbors. We help as much as we can, but we ourselves are full of fears. Is it possible to get rid of them? How to help, but also how to take care of yourself? You will hear about this and many others below.
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