You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

China COVID Surge Could Infect Hundreds of Millions and Lead to 500,000+ Deaths

HeadlineDec 16, 2022

In China, public health officials warn COVID-19 cases are spreading rapidly and show no sign of slowing down, after officials in Beijing abandoned their long-standing “zero COVID” policy. Researchers estimate some 800 million people in China — or about one-tenth of humanity — could become infected by the coronavirus over the next 90 days. Several models predict more than a half-million people could die. China’s population remains especially vulnerable to a winter surge because few people have been exposed to the coronavirus. There are also concerns about the effectiveness of China’s domestically produced vaccines, which rely on inactivated forms of the virus. It’s a technology that’s proven to be less protective than the mRNA vaccines widely used elsewhere.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top