China records first virus death in eight months
WUHAN, China: China recorded its first Covid-19 death in eight months yesterday, as experts huddled to discuss worrying new strains of the coronavirus that are spreading rapidly around the globe.
The gathering in Geneva of the World Health Organisation’s emergency committee comes as their colleagues landed in Wuhan for a long-delayed mission to find the origins of the virus.
More than 91 million people have been infected, with almost two million of them dying, according to figures widely thought to be an underestimate.
Much of the planet is enveloped in a second or third wave of the disease, with populations chafing under painful and economically damaging restrictions.
China – where the virus first emerged – has again locked down millions of people as it fights to control a fresh outbreak that has now claimed its first victim, sparking anguish on social media.
The hashtag “New virus death in Hebei” quickly ratcheted up 100 million views on the Twitterlike Weibo platform.
“I haven’t seen the words ‘virusdeath’ in so long, it’s a bit shocking! I hope the epidemic can pass soon,” one user wrote.
The death comes as a politically sensitive investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic finally got under way with the arrival of a 10-strong team in Wuhan, where the virus emerged in late 2019.
Beijing has argued Wuhan might not be where the virus originated, only where it was first identified.
Regardless of the virus’s origins, scientists say large-scale vaccination is the only way to escape its ravages.
Programmes have spluttered into life in a number of countries, although progress is slower than many are hoping.
There was some good news for those who have already had Covid-19, with one British study suggesting that recovery confers immunity for at least five months for most people.
The research will be welcomed by Britain’s under-pressure healthcare workers struggling to cope with surging caseloads caused in part by a new, more infectious strain of the virus.
That strain, and another identified in South Africa, was going under the microscope in Geneva on Thursday when the WHO’s emergency committee gathers.
The newly identified variants have been logged in dozens of countries. — AFP