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Covid-19. How the outbreak of the epidemic in China can also affect us
Covid-19 cases have soared in China since the lifting of the “zero Covid” policy. And this will not necessarily be without consequences for France.
West France
Lucas ROJOUAN.
Published on27/12/2022 at 5:28 p.m.
China is facing an outbreak of Covid-19 cases on its territory, at the dawn of the year 2023. A direct consequence of the abandonment, on December 7, 2022, of its "zero Covid" policy , launched three years earlier.
Since the recent lifting of health restrictions, the increase in Covid-19 contamination has continued in China, where the population is poorly vaccinated. The country's main health authority also announced on Sunday that it would no longer publish daily figures for the epidemic. A way to break the thermometer? According to an estimate from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation ( IHME ), published in mid-December, more than a million people could die from the virus in 2023 .
The very strong circulation of Covid-19 in China is therefore a “worrying” situation and “which must be closely monitored” , considers Yannick Simonin, lecturer at the University of Montpellier, specialist in emerging viruses. Especially since the circulation of the virus within a weakly immunized population can “generate a very large number of hospitalizations and deaths” . But this situation could also have repercussions in France: we explain why.
1. Fear of new variants
According to Yannick Simonin, a virus which circulates “very actively” in a weakly immunized population “can also contribute to the appearance of new variants” . This is particularly the case with the BF.7 strain of Covid-19 , a sub-variant of Omicron still not very present in France but very active in China.
The virologist is therefore waiting to “see how the Chinese authorities will manage to curb, or even reduce, this number of cases” . “It would seem that they want to rely on a greater vaccination of the population, it is perhaps a little late,” he notes.
Indeed, President Xi Jinping tried to temporize on Monday, calling for a “patriotic health campaign” to “build a bulwark” against the virus. A paradoxical situation when the power ended the restrictions without notice, against a backdrop of exasperation of the population and harmful economic consequences.
2. The risk of drug shortages
As tens of millions of daily cases are estimated in China, an ill workforce could curb the production of drug factories in China, even if infected residents are now allowed to work . This will increase the risk of drug shortages in France and in the rest of the world at the start of 2023.
Indeed, in France, nearly "80% of the active ingredients, the raw material for our medicines, are manufactured in China and India" , indicated on Twitter, Saturday, the president of the medical commission of the AP- HP, Rémi Salomon .
...
3. The consequences of a recovery in tourism
China has announced that on January 8, 2023, it will lift the mandatory quarantine at the entrance to its territory , one of the last major restrictions still in force. The reopening of China to the world and the resumption of tourist activity raise fears of a further increase in contamination at the start of the year.
Long cut off from the world, many Chinese flocked to the reservation centers following this announcement. Travel platform Qunar showed searches for international flights jumped sevenfold, with Thailand, Japan and South Korea topping the list, just 15 minutes after the news broke, The Guardian reported. .
Japan was the first country to react by announcing on Tuesday the return of Covid-19 tests to visitors from China. This is not yet the case in France.
https://www.ouest-france.fr/sante/vi...6-f8c7f0068918
Translation Google
Covid-19. How the outbreak of the epidemic in China can also affect us
Covid-19 cases have soared in China since the lifting of the “zero Covid” policy. And this will not necessarily be without consequences for France.
West France
Lucas ROJOUAN.
Published on27/12/2022 at 5:28 p.m.
China is facing an outbreak of Covid-19 cases on its territory, at the dawn of the year 2023. A direct consequence of the abandonment, on December 7, 2022, of its "zero Covid" policy , launched three years earlier.
Since the recent lifting of health restrictions, the increase in Covid-19 contamination has continued in China, where the population is poorly vaccinated. The country's main health authority also announced on Sunday that it would no longer publish daily figures for the epidemic. A way to break the thermometer? According to an estimate from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation ( IHME ), published in mid-December, more than a million people could die from the virus in 2023 .
The very strong circulation of Covid-19 in China is therefore a “worrying” situation and “which must be closely monitored” , considers Yannick Simonin, lecturer at the University of Montpellier, specialist in emerging viruses. Especially since the circulation of the virus within a weakly immunized population can “generate a very large number of hospitalizations and deaths” . But this situation could also have repercussions in France: we explain why.
1. Fear of new variants
According to Yannick Simonin, a virus which circulates “very actively” in a weakly immunized population “can also contribute to the appearance of new variants” . This is particularly the case with the BF.7 strain of Covid-19 , a sub-variant of Omicron still not very present in France but very active in China.
The virologist is therefore waiting to “see how the Chinese authorities will manage to curb, or even reduce, this number of cases” . “It would seem that they want to rely on a greater vaccination of the population, it is perhaps a little late,” he notes.
Indeed, President Xi Jinping tried to temporize on Monday, calling for a “patriotic health campaign” to “build a bulwark” against the virus. A paradoxical situation when the power ended the restrictions without notice, against a backdrop of exasperation of the population and harmful economic consequences.
2. The risk of drug shortages
As tens of millions of daily cases are estimated in China, an ill workforce could curb the production of drug factories in China, even if infected residents are now allowed to work . This will increase the risk of drug shortages in France and in the rest of the world at the start of 2023.
Indeed, in France, nearly "80% of the active ingredients, the raw material for our medicines, are manufactured in China and India" , indicated on Twitter, Saturday, the president of the medical commission of the AP- HP, Rémi Salomon .
...
3. The consequences of a recovery in tourism
China has announced that on January 8, 2023, it will lift the mandatory quarantine at the entrance to its territory , one of the last major restrictions still in force. The reopening of China to the world and the resumption of tourist activity raise fears of a further increase in contamination at the start of the year.
Long cut off from the world, many Chinese flocked to the reservation centers following this announcement. Travel platform Qunar showed searches for international flights jumped sevenfold, with Thailand, Japan and South Korea topping the list, just 15 minutes after the news broke, The Guardian reported. .
Japan was the first country to react by announcing on Tuesday the return of Covid-19 tests to visitors from China. This is not yet the case in France.
https://www.ouest-france.fr/sante/vi...6-f8c7f0068918
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