Snow impairs visibility in rural Linn County, Iowa, in the United States. Photo / AP
Snow impairs visibility in rural Linn County, Iowa, in the United States. Photo / AP
Editorial
As New Zealanders perspired through a hot Christmas break, a couple of storms were sweeping through two of the biggest areas of the world.
The United States and Canada were struck by a deadly and freezing ‘bomb cyclone’ from the Arctic while a Covid-19 tsunami of infection continued to tearthrough China.
An estimated 60 per cent of people in the US were affected in some way by the extreme blizzard, which killed at least 48 people, caused blackouts, and travel chaos.
The North American weather blast is dramatic, disruptive but will be short-lived.
China’s situation is a lot more ominous, a severe fallout after Covid measures were eased — three years after the original version became established in Wuhan.
The Financial Times reports leaked figures estimate 250 million people in China became infected by Omicron in the first 20 days of December. Just in one city, Qingdao, half a million new Covid cases are appearing daily, AFP reports.
China has changed its methodology on Covid deaths, saying it won’t include people who died ‘’with’' the coronavirus. It is admitting to only a low death toll.
As New Zealand and Australia found out early this year, a sudden flood of cases in countries previously largely protected by borders causes higher hospitalisations and deaths than they previously experienced in the pandemic.
New Zealand is in the midst of another Covid-19 wave. Photo / NIAID
Although the focus is on what might be unfolding in China, and a potential humanitarian disaster, it could become a wider problem as well.
China is dropping its quarantine requirement for overseas passengers from January 8 - moving towards fully reopening travel with the rest of the world.
China has a large, under-vaccinated population and only domestic doses rather than international mRNA vaccines were used in its rollout.
A huge infection wave could produce tricky new variants or Omicron subvariants that could be problematic for the rest of the world, even with extensive built-up immunity elsewhere. The wave will also probably cause mass sickness among China’s workforce and supply shortages.
Here, potential Covid infections have been on some people’s minds during the Christmas break, especially family groups meeting up from various parts of the country.
But a lot of people were more concerned about enjoying good beach weather. Numbers were so great at one Auckland beach, people were turned away.
The Ministry of Health reported that 427 people spent Christmas day in hospital with Covid. New case numbers were down, but that could be because of less testing.
As much as people won’t want to think about Omicron over the summer, an out-of-control situation in China should prompt advice for people to get a booster if they are eligible.
Medsafe has granted provisional approval for Pfizer/BioNTech boosters that specifically target Omicron subvariants. There’s a Ministry of Health process to go through before ministers decide whether to approve new boosters for use next year.
If that occurs, the public could also be reminded at the same time to isolate when sick, ventilate rooms and try to socialise outdoors, and wear masks when indoors with crowds.
Even though China’s outbreak brings an unwelcome sense of deja vu to this time last year when Omicron was eclipsing Delta, the tools for combating whatever variant or subvariant is causing problems remain the same.
