China Covid outbreak: US concerned over new mutation
Dec 20, 2022
Washington [US], December 20 : The United States has expressed its concern over the possibility of a new mutation of the Covid-19 virus as numbers continue to regularly increase in the world's most populous nation China, even though many countries have arrested the pandaemic spread.
While addressing the media, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said, "First and foremost, any time there is death and illness anywhere around the world, we want to see a situation like that come to an end. When it comes to COVID, secondly, 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."
"We've seen that over the course of many different permutations of this virus and certainly another reason why we are so focused on helping countries around the world address COVID, another reason why bringing this to a close in China would be beneficial," he added.
Talking on Covid-19 toll Price said he is concerned that "not only does China need to be in a good position" but other countries as well.
He said, "the US is concerned that China might not be fully transparent about the COVID numbers, the cases, and also the deaths that we're seeing in China right now".
This development came after China reported two Covid deaths on Monday.
According to the National Health Commission of China, the mainland also reported 1,995 new Covid-19 cases.
As of Sunday, the National Health Commission had received reports of 380,453 confirmed cases and 5,237 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland, and in all 339,885 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital.
