As coronavirus tsunami leaves China, wave of infections may be far from over

China seems to be over the worst while other countries are at different stages, creating challenges for managing lockdowns and reopening

But health experts differ on what point the pandemic is at, with one saying it’s still early days and ‘we don’t really know what the full scope will be’

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Covid-19 cases in the United States increased by an average of 29,000 a day in the past week. Photo: AP

Published: 7:00pm, 1 May 2020Updated: 11:22pm, 1 May 2020

While the number of global Covid-19 cases surged by more than 2 million in April, in China where the outbreak began, fewer than 1,300 new cases were reported in the whole month, according to data from the World Health Organisation and China’s National Health Commission.

“China was impacted first and now seems to be over the worst. Other countries are still right in the thick of it while other countries are just starting to be impacted,” said Kelley Lee, director of global health at Simon Fraser University in Canada.

That could suggest the wave of infections is running its course and as China goes, so goes the world in dealing with this pandemic that infected more than 3 million people by the end of April and killed more than 227,000. Public health experts, however, differ on just what stage the pandemic wave is at.

Cases in the United States, the country with the largest number of infections and deaths, increased by an average of 29,000 a day in the past week, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Meantime, Wuhan – the Chinese city which reported the first cases of the new disease just over four months ago – emerged from an 11-week lockdown in early April and declared itself Covid-19-free as the last patients left hospitals on Sunday.

Restrictions are easing in China with the outbreak “clearly well under control”. Photo: Reuters

“The outbreak is clearly well under control within China with recent relaxation of domestic quarantine regulations,” said Craig Anderson, executive director of The George Institute China at Peking University Health Science Centre in Beijing. “Most parts of the world outside of China, the infection is plateauing or showing signs of slowing but one could not confidently say it is under control.”