China warns of 'counter-measures' against countries seeking negative Covid test from flyers
Around a dozen countries have imposed travel curbs on passengers from China
China on Tuesday slammed the negative Covid result sought by various countries from passengers boarding flights from its territory and warned of a retaliatory response even as a top Shanghai doctor admitted that over 70 per cent of the population in the megacity may have been infected with the virus.
At least a dozen countries, including US, UK, Australia, and India, have mandated negative Covid results 48 hours prior the departure from China regardless of the vaccination status as a resurgent virus continues to wreak havoc.
In a statement, the foreign ministry deemed the additional screening measure as "unacceptable", saying that it lacks "scientific basis".
"Some countries have taken entry restrictions targeting only Chinese travellers," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing.
"This lacks scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable," she added, warning China could "take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity".
The recent outbreak has been marked by China's shift from 'zero-Covid' policy following a massive protest that rocked the country in December.
'70% of Shanghai population infected'
A senior doctor at one of Shanghai's top hospitals has claimed that 70 per cent of the city's population may have already been infected with COVID-19, state media reported.
Chen Erzhen,vice-president at Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai's COVID-19 expert advisory panel, hasestimated that the majority of the city's 25 million people may have already been infected during the Covid surge.
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"Now the spread of the epidemic in Shanghai is very wide, and it may have reached 70 per cent of the population, which is 20 to 30 times more than [in April and May]," he told Dajiangdong Studio, owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.
The doctor added that his hospital was seeing 1,600 emergency admissions daily, which is double the number prior to restrictions being lifted, with 80 per cent of them COVID-19 patients.
Chinese media plays down severity
Even as Covid cases continue to surge, several media outlets have been playing down the severity of the outbreak, despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) share specific and real-time information on the outbreak.
On Monday, China reported three new Covid deaths, taking its official death toll to 5,253 since the pandemic began.
The People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, on Tuesday cited Chinese experts as saying that the illness caused by the virus was relatively mild.
"Severe and critical illnesses account for 3 per cent to 4 per cent of infected patients currently admitted to designated hospitals in Beijing," Tong Zhaohui, vice president of the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, told the newspaper.
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