How covid once again has the world worried

1 min read . Updated: 09 Jan 2023, 10:47 PM IST

Just when the world thought it had left the pandemic behind, the worrying news from China since mid-December has upended containment policies in several countries

Just when the world thought it had left the pandemic behind, the worrying news from China since mid-December has upended containment policies in several countries. The explosive surge in infections in China after it ditched its zero-covid policy has rung alarm bells globally, and countries such as the US, Australia, and Japan have seen a sudden spurt in infections. The lack of transparency around China’s stats hasn’t helped. The World Health Organization—in the past accused of being “soft" towards China—says the country has “under-represented" the true impact of the disease. Amid all this hullabaloo, India has remained relatively unscathed, with fewer than 500 new cases being reported daily. Experts attribute this to hybrid immunity, provided by a combination of prior infection and vaccination. Mint explores how covid is still keeping the world on the edge.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nandita Venkatesan

Nandita Venkatesan is a data journalist at Mint, and has a keen interest in understanding the usefulness of data in driving sound public discourse and informing policymaking. She has over four years of experience across journalism and health research. She previously worked with the Economic Times, Mumbai, and the Vaccine Confidence Project in the UK. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Nandita also pursued a masters’ in public policy from University of Oxford as Chevening-Weidenfeld Hoffmann scholar.