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China’s foreign ministry has labeled travel bans imposed by countries including Canada as “simply unreasonable,” saying it “has no scientific basis.”
The comments came ahead of a briefing on Tuesday by Chinese scientists to the World Health Organization, who are expecting a “detailed discussion” on the evolution of the virus.
China’s sudden U-turn in its control of COVID-19 on Dec. 7, as well as the accuracy of its case and death data, have come under increasing scrutiny at home and abroad.
“We are willing to improve communication with the world,” foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
“However… we are strongly opposed to attempts to manipulate epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes, and will take appropriate measures in various situations according to the principle of reciprocity.”
WATCH l Effectiveness of China’s travel measures discussed:
Starting Thursday, travelers coming to Canada from China will have to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test to enter the country as China deals with an outbreak of COVID-19 cases.
Australia, Canada, the United States, France and other countries require COVID tests for people traveling from China, while Belgium has said it will test wastewater from planes for the new variant.
European Union health officials will meet on Wednesday on a coordinated response.
Hospitals vary in the severity of their illness
China’s shift away from the “zero-COVID” policy championed by President Xi Jinping followed protests that marked the strongest show of public policy in a decade in power and coincided with the slowest economic growth in nearly half a century.
As the virus spreads unchecked, funeral homes have reported a surge in demand for services and international health experts predict at least one million deaths in China this year.
China reported three new COVID-19 deaths on Monday, bringing the official death toll from the pandemic to 5,253.
On Tuesday, the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, cited Chinese experts as saying that the illness caused by the virus is relatively mild for most people.
“Severe and critical illnesses account for three percent to four percent of infected patients currently admitted to designated hospitals in Beijing,” Tong Zhaohui, vice president of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, told the newspaper.
Kang Yan, head of West China Tianfu Hospital at Sichuan University, said that in the past three weeks, a total of 46 patients have been admitted to the intensive care unit, or about one percent of symptomatic infections.
Meanwhile, the emergency area at Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai was packed with patients on Tuesday, Reuters witnesses said.
Some were in beds in the corridor receiving IV treatment while dozens were lined up around it, waiting to see a doctor. It’s unclear how many are there with COVID-19.
WHO expects transparency
The World Health Organization called on Chinese health officials to regularly share specific and real-time information about the outbreak.
The WHO invited Chinese scientists to present detailed data on the virus’s sequence at a technical advisory group meeting on Tuesday. It also asked China to share data on hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.
Ahead of a meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Geneva, a WHO spokesman said a “detailed discussion” was expected about the variant spreading in China, and globally, Chinese scientists were looking forward to the presentation.
WATCH l Scenes show the crisis, but data is often hard to find:
China’s health care system is being pushed to the brink by the surge in COVID-19 cases. But with limited data, it’s hard to get a clear picture of the situation a month after the country reversed its zero COVID policy.
But some experts doubt that China will be so forthright.
“I don’t think China will be very sincere in disclosing information,” said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
“They prefer to keep it to themselves or they will say nothing happened, nothing new. My own understanding is that we can assume nothing new … but the problem is that China’s transparency problem is always there.”
China last month announced it would stop requiring people entering quarantine from January 8, but would still require pre-departure tests.
A busy Chinese New Year
As Chinese workers and shoppers get sick, worries about short-term growth prospects in the world’s second-largest economy fuel volatility in global financial markets.
A “bushfire” of infections in China in the coming months will damage the economy this year and drag global growth lower, said the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.
“China has entered the most dangerous week of the pandemic,” said Capital Economics analysts.
Mobility data suggest that economic activity is depressed nationwide and will remain so until infections subside, he added.
Expectations are higher for the big Lunar New Year holiday later this month, when some experts predict infections will rise in many places.
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