Following the relaxation of measures against the spread of Covid-19 in China, more cases of the disease have begun to occur in the country, and even death has already been reported. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, should have a higher vaccination rate because a new wave of the pandemic could kill more than a million people by 2023. Reuters also reported the new concerns on Twitter.
The problem is already high inflation and the restrictions that come with the spread of the disease will once again damage the world economy, businesses' supply chains will suffer from disruptions and many other problems will come. It is China's ruler, Xi Jinping, who is defending the country's system, claiming that it is best suited to contain the disease and that Chinese vaccines are better than Western ones, despite some evidence to the contrary.
The West has to communicate with Chinese officials carefully, yet there is an effort to help and prevent the spread of the disease. Representatives from Washington and Beijing have already discussed how to proceed in the event of the spread of COVID-19, but details are not known due to maintaining sensitive diplomatic relations. Help could come in the form of an updated mRNA vaccine from BioNTech that targets currently circulating variants of the Omicron-related virus. China, however, would likely reject such an approach. Despite the rejection, US drugmaker Pfizer most recently reached an agreement to export its COVID Paxlovide antiviral treatment to China through a local company.
