While USA, Brazil, and India peak with COVID cases, millions in China are locked down as the country sees the highest daily spike in 2 years.
USA, Brazil, India, Russia
COVID is active and lethal again. While people are saying COVID is over and safety norms are being thrown to the winds, COVID is once again stalking and lurking nations. Yesterday, the USA had 24,260,703 active cases and +460 died, Brazil had 1,023,793 and +381 died and India had 38,069 active cases while 17+ people died. The COVID virus has been exacerbated in Russia, probably due to the war rush, with thousands rushing to markets and banks, and huge mobs protesting against the war, with virtually no social distancing, recording 1,578,204 active and +630 deaths yesterday.
Surges of Omicron and Delta Variants in China
Hong Kong currently has one of the world’s highest death rates from the virus, as the Omicron variant cuts through its elderly population among whom vaccine hesitancy proliferates.
Thousands of foreigners have left the city as schools are closed and tough restrictions curtail gatherings and movement over two years into a pandemic that has eased in severity across much of the world.
In China’s biggest city Shanghai, authorities have increasingly moved to temporarily lock down individual schools, businesses, restaurants and malls over close-contact fears rather than using mass quarantines.
Serpentine lines are forming outside hospitals in the city as people flow in to obtain COVID tests.
As cases rise, the country’s National Health Commission announced Friday that they would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests.
The kits will now be available online or at pharmacies for clinics and ordinary citizens to buy for “self-testing”, the health commission said.
Although nucleic acid tests will continue to be the main method of testing, the move suggests China may be anticipating that official efforts will not be able to contain the virus.
China is not doing well with the highest spike in COVID in 2 years. Authorities close schools in Shanghai and lockdown several northeastern cities, as almost 18 provinces battle local outbreaks while millions of people across China weathered lockdowns on Sunday as virus cases doubled to nearly 3,400.
Apprehension grew over the resilience of China’s ‘zero-COVID’ policy in the face of the worst outbreak in two years. China swells with cases that have seen authorities close schools in Shanghai, lockdown central neighborhoods in the southern tech powerhouse of Shenzhen as well as whole northeastern cities, as almost 18 provinces battle bunches of the Omicron and Delta variants.
The city of Jilin — the center of the outbreak in the northeast — was partially locked down Saturday, while residents of Yanji, an urban area of nearly 700,000 bordering North Korea, were restricted to their homes Sunday.
China, where the virus was first caught in late 2019, has carried out a strict ‘zero-COVID’ policy enforced by swift lockdowns, travel restrictions, and mass testing when clusters have emerged.
Residents of Jilin have completed six rounds of mass testing, with the city reporting more than 2,200 cases of the Omicron variant since Saturday.
The neighboring city of Changchun — an industrial base of nine million people — was locked down Friday, while at least three other small cities have been locked down since March 1.
The mayor of Jilin and the head of the Changchun health commission were dismissed from their jobs Saturday, state media reported, in a sign of the political imperative placed on local authorities to contain virus clusters.
In Shenzhen, the southern city of around 13 million bordering Hong Kong, the atmosphere is tense amid efforts to squash clusters of Omicron and Delta.
“It’s the worst since 2020,” a Shenzhen resident surnamed Zhang told AFP. “The closures are too sudden, my friend woke up in the morning to find her building was sealed overnight without warning. Her boss had to mail her laptop to her.”
Last week, a top Chinese scientist said the country should aim to co-exist with COVID, like other nations, where Omicron has surged wildly.
The Wisdom and Folly of Nations
In countries like Spain, people are faithfully wearing masks as they are learning hard lessons from the horrific first wave in 2020.
A trend on Twitter is going, #CovidIsNotOver and one of the netizens, Stephen Shapiro writes, “Spain has one of the lowest COVID rates in Europe. Why? They are still wearing masks indoors, many still even do outdoors. They learned their lesson from the devastating first wave in 2020. They seem perfectly fine doing so as long as needed. Unlike many Canadians. #CovidIsNotOver”.
Spain has one of the lowest Covid rates in Europe. Why? They are still wearing masks indoors, many still even do outdoors. They learned their lesson from the devastating first wave in 2020. They seem perfectly fine doing so as long as needed.Unlike many Canadians. #CovidIsNotOver
— Stephen Shapiro (@StephenLShapiro) March 12, 2022
Someone shared:@DrEricDing I have been following your posts for 2 tears now I just want to thank you for all your hard work. I am so worried it is reminding me of the final wave of the 1918 Pandemic everyone has let their guard down & govts will do nothing to stop this wave. #CovidIsNotOver”
@DrEricDing I have been following your posts for 2 tears now I just want to thank you for all your hard work. I am so worried it is reminding me of the final wave of the 1918 Pandemic everyone has let their guard down & govts will do nothing to stop this wave. #CovidIsNotOver pic.twitter.com/Aka6Uc05Vc
— 🌻🇨🇦 Merlin 🇨🇦 🌻Wear an N95 #COVIDisAirborne (@MerlinofCanada) March 13, 2022
In America, there is a resistance to masks, and here is one example of the resistance to masks where some Americans refuse to wear masks asserting it is a free country, they are not blind sheep, and the government cannot dictate any terms to them, insisting it is their body, their choice and tell people to f*** off for insisting they wear a mask. Perhaps they are not aware of how the past pandemics in the world were controlled, through isolation and vaccines. Nothing has changed but the temperament of people
Cos we should have our turn … 😂 #WearAMask #CovidIsNotOver #COVID19AB pic.twitter.com/vnKTitUjma
— FUCP “not autoblocked by Kenney” (@radical_ranger1) March 7, 2022