Its all normal for China’s mouthpiece Global Times as COVID-19 ravages China

New Delhi, Dec 22: All is well is the message from the Chinese mouthpiece Global Times amidst the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in China.

China has officially said that only seven COVID-19 fatalities have been reported as on December 19, many media reports especially in the Western media have claimed that the fatalities are much higher.

The Global Times has however reported that China was fully equipped to handle the situation and added that it would allow recovered patients to return to workplaces without verifying the COVID-19 test results.

On Monday the Beijing Municipal Council announced that the government would eliminate limits on the pace of attendance and mobility among districts as well as the necessity of the 3 tests within three days of newcomers in the capital city.

The country also allowed underground business such as bars, gyms, internet cafes, dine-in services, hotel conferences, training, and banquets to operate in normal capacities. The Global Times also said that the Chinese pharmaceutical firms were operating at full capacity to meet the increasing demands for cold and fever medicines.

In another report the Global Times while quoting government officials said that it had put peoples' lives first and that it is striving to protect the lives of the people as much as possible. "At present, considering the new developments in the epidemic, China is constantly optimizing its prevention and control measures to strike a balance between epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. We are willing to continue to work with the international community to cope with the challenges of the epidemic, to better protect people's lives and health and restore healthy growth of the world economy, and promote the building of a healthy community for all," the report said.

On the vaccines, the Global Times said that around 86.6 per cent of the persons above the age of 60 and 66.4 per cent of the elderly persons over the age of 80 have full COVID-19 immunisation.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on the other hand said that it is concerned with the unprecedented rise in the number of cases in China.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was quoted as saying that "WHO is very concerned over the evolving situation in China, with increasing reports of severe disease. WHO is supporting China to focus its efforts on vaccinating people at the highest risk across the country, and we continue to offer our support for clinical care and protecting its health system."