WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke with Minister Ma Xiaowei, head of China’s National Health Commission, on Saturday about the country’s COVID-19 situation and called for deeper cooperation on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. .
“I spoke with Minister Ma Xiaowei about the #COVID19 situation in China. I appreciate the detailed information disclosure and request that you continue to share. I asked for further sequence sharing and cooperation to understand the origin of the virus. ‘, the WHO Director-General tweeted. .
Read| China records nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths a month: health agency
The call came on the same day China announced that nearly 60,000 Covid-19 deaths had been reported since the country lifted its draconian “zero Covid policy” on December 7 last year. It was reported by the state media Global Times.
China’s National Health Commission has revealed that there were a total of 59,938 COVID-19-related deaths between December 8, 2022 and January 12 of this year, with a spike in cases of 12. It explained that this was due to the easing of Covid policies on March 7.
During Saturday’s conference call, Tedros said China’s deeper cooperation in understanding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and implementing the recommendations detailed in the report of the Strategic Advisory Group on the Origins of the Novel Pathogen. and reiterated the importance of transparency.
In a statement posted on the WHO website, WHO said that Chinese officials had informed WHO and, at a press conference, had been informed of outpatient clinics, hospitalizations, patients requiring urgent and emergency care, and It said it provided information on a variety of topics, including hospital deaths related to COVID-19 infection.
“WHO is analyzing this information, which covers the period from early December 2022 to 12 January 2023, to better understand the epidemiological situation and the impact of this wave. China‘ said the UN agency.
WHO has requested that this kind of detailed information continue to be shared. In addition, they noted that Chinese authorities are seeking to expand clinical care of the population at all levels, including critical care.
“The overall epidemiology reflects rapid and intense waves of disease caused by known subvariants of Omicron, with higher clinical impact in the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, and infections experienced in other countries. It’s like a wave of .The pressure on health services has increased,” the agency said.
Read| China’s Covid fever and emergency hospitalizations peak: official
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention previously reported that Omicron substrains BA.5.2 and BF.7 were circulating, but WHO has announced further He said he continued to seek to share the sequences with open access databases. Evolution, clinical care and beyond.
The UN health agency said it would provide technical advice and support, analyze the situation and continue to work with China. (Ani)
