Rising Covid cases in China may result in dangerous coronavirus variants. Should you be worried?

Over the past one week, China has seen Covid outbreaks and the numbers have reached an all-time high, even more than during 2020 and 2021. Covid cases are spreading like wildfire in Beijing to other cities.

How many cases are reported? During the last week, China reported more than 10,000 average cases weekly, and on November 29, the country saw more than 70,000 cases (the actual number can be exponentially higher).

What do experts have to say? Dailymail reported that experts believe that the China Covid cases can cause a "cauldron of virus evolution". Some also believe that China could provide the ideal breeding ground for potentially worse variants.

Why though? 

• People in China have lower natural immunity due to being mostly protected from prior waves (no herd immunity, basically).
• This occurred due to China’s zero covid policy and its refusal to relax covid norms.

• In China, the overall immunisation rate is poor, as is the overall efficacy of the vaccines. (Two doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine are only 79% effective). 

It is also true that trends have shown something else: Doctor Abhisheel Das, from Kolkata, explains to dailyO that with time, the variants or the mutants of viruses get non-lethal, even though they become more transmissible (we saw that with the Omicron variant).

Should you be worried? Yes, if you're reading this from China. According to Dr Das, the key explanation could be the unpredictability of the wave, as well as the fact that China has never encountered a wave like this before, allowing it to develop what is known as herd immunity. 

Reason? He explains that since Indians have been through three Covid waves and the high vaccination rates have built a herd immunity, it will protect Indians from dangerous Covid waves.  

Read More: Why does China keep getting Covid outbreaks?