China may end up witnessing more than a million Covid deaths in 2023 if it continues with its decision of lifting stringent coronavirus curbs, a new projection from a US-based institute claimed. According to the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), by April 1, China could register 322,000 deaths, as the Covid cases will peak then.
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“Nobody thought they would stick to zero-COVID as long as they did," IHME director Christopher Murray said when the IHME projections were released online, news agency Reuters reported. China eased its strict Covid rules this month following unprecedented public protests across the country. Following the lifting of the curbs, China has been experiencing a spike in infections, with fears that the virus could infect all of its 1.4 billion population during next month's Lunar New Year holiday.
China has also not recorded any Covid deaths since the lifting of restrictions as the last official deaths were reported on December 3.
The IMHE said that the emergence of highly-transmittable Omicron variants has rendered China's zero-Covid policy ineffective, and hence Beijing decided to lift the restrictions.
{{/usCountry}}The IMHE said that the emergence of highly-transmittable Omicron variants has rendered China's zero-Covid policy ineffective, and hence Beijing decided to lift the restrictions.
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"China has since the original Wuhan outbreak barely reported any deaths. That is why we looked to Hong Kong to get an idea of the infection fatality rate," Christopher Murray said explaining that the projections of the group is based on provincial data and information from a recent Omicron outbreak in Hong Kong. The IHME also used information on vaccination rates provided by the Chinese government as well as assumptions on how various provinces will respond if infection rates increase.
This comes as China is looking to provide booster vaccines for the vulnerable sections as Beijing remains pessimistic about the use of vaccination of foreign vaccines. This week, China's National Health Commission said that it was ramping up vaccinations and building stocks of ventilators and essential drugs.