Growing concern about virus mutations, impact on economy Beijing reports five COVID-related deaths on Tuesday*
*China has reported just 5,242 COVID deaths since pandemic erupted in late 2019*
Cities across China scrambled to install hospital beds and build fever screening clinics on Tuesday as the United States said Beijing’s surprise decision to let the virus run free was a concern for the world.
China this month abruptly began dismantling its stringent “zero-COVID” regime of mass lockdowns after protests against curbs that had largely kept the virus at bay for three years but at significant costs to society and the world’s second-largest economy.
Now, as the virus sweeps through a country of 1.4 billion people who lack natural immunity having been shielded for so long, there is growing concern about possible deaths, virus mutations and the impact, again, on the economy.
“We know that any time the virus is spreading, that it is in the wild, that it has the potential to mutate and to pose a threat to people everywhere,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday, adding that the virus outbreak was also a concern for China’s economy and, in turn, global growth.
