Over 60 pc of China, 10 pc of world population likely to be infected with Covid: Former Indian envoy

Expressing concern over the spurt in Covid-19 cases in China, former Indian diplomat KP Fabian on Tuesday said, "over 60 per cent of China and 10 per cent of the world population is likely to be infected with Covid and millions may die."

Speaking on China expecting a massive surge in coronavirus cases, he said, "There are some reports. What will you say on China? Well, when you speak of 10 pc of the world population, which is about 8 billion, which means 10 pc is 800 million, which is a very big number. Now of course I don't have the expertise to say whether it is right or wrong, I don't want to say that. But it seems that with China's method of fighting Covid, something has gone wrong with it. Seriously, their vaccine is not that good and they refuse to get the better vaccine or to improve their own vaccine, though something has been done, but not enough."

He also raised concern over the 'Zero Covid' policy and protests across China, saying that some restrictions should have been imposed in the light of the latest surge in cases.

"The so-called 'Zero Covid' did not make any sense because you can't keep people locked in for too long a time. And what has happened when they revolted, when they showed the protest, then you removed the policy. But that again was not right. Some restrictions should have been there. So I'm afraid China is not handling it as well as it could have. And it also does not come out with the exact official numbers. Yes, they are a little secretive about, you know, facts and figures, which again is not good," said Fabian.

The former envoy also highlighted the Chinese reluctance to tell the world in December 2019 as to what was happening, the year the pandemic came to light.

"In fact, you know that the whole thing became a pandemic because of Chinese reluctance to tell the world in December 2019 as to what was happening. They said that there are cases of pneumonia, but there is no evidence that it is humanly transmitted from one human being to another. They should have said well it is happening. They didn't do that. They took time," he added.

Between 1.3 and 2.1 million lives could be at risk if China lifts its 'Zero Covid' policy, given low vaccination and booster rates as well as a lack of hybrid immunity, according to London-based global health intelligence and analytics firm.

"Mainland China has very low levels of immunity across its population. Its citizens were vaccinated with domestically produced jabs Sinovac and Sinopharm which have been proven to have significantly lower efficacy and provide less protection against infection and death," according to an analysis by Airfinity.

Talking about US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price' statement that United States shares good relationships with India and Pakistan and does not want to see a 'war of words' but a constructive dialogue between the two countries, the forner envoy said, "What Washington is saying that they have a relationship with India, which they value, but they also have a relationship with Pakistan and that we should not imagine that they would between Pakistan and India. The United States will choose India. No, that's not going to happen. What is important for us is to have a solid, deep, wide relationship with the United States and not so much be sulky about United States' relationship with Pakistan because they have their own reasons to keep relationship with Pakistan."

In a briefing, US State Department Spokesperson Price had said the US has a global strategic partnership with India and relations between New Delhi and Islamabad in America's mind are not zero-sum and the country does not view them in relation to one another.

Price had also stated that the US looks forward to be in India for G20 meetings.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that 'today's era is not of war' gained global currency in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war.

"The United States welcomes PM's comment, as I said, not only the United States but practically the whole world. I mean, naturally you don't expect Moscow to welcome it. Practically, the whole world has welcomed Prime Minister Modi's statement as regard to the G20. It gives us an opportunity shall I say, to give a certain leadership to the the G20 in handling the difficult problems facing the world," said Fabian.

"At the same time, we should not overstate its importance because, you know, basically these problems are there because of certain deep differences of opinion, whether it is between Russia and Ukraine or whether it is between Russia and NATO. There are deep differences. It's not that they don't know how to talk to each other and therefore somebody can go and say, hey, I will meditate. It's not that simple. But we have an opportunity and I'm sure Indian diplomacy will make the best use of it," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )

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