US stands ready to help China stem Covid-19 outbreak, warns of implications for global economy
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China is unlikely to accept the US' offer, having invested heavily in Covid-19 diplomacy, including shipping its home-grown vaccines around the world.
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WASHINGTON - The United States has indicated that it stands ready to assist China with its surging Covid-19 outbreak, warning that an uncontrolled spread there may have implications for the global economy.
“We’re prepared to continue to support countries around the world, including China, on this and other Covid-related health support,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday during a daily press briefing. “For us, this is not about politics, this is not about geopolitics.”
Asked if the United States had offered to provide China with vaccines, Mr Price said: “I’m not going to go into private discussions, but we’ve made the point many times publicly that we are the largest donor of Covid-19 vaccines around the world.”
China has dismantled its stringent zero-Covid policy of lockdowns and testing after protests against curbs that had kept the virus at bay among its 1.4 billion-strong population for three years, but at a big cost to society and the world’s second-largest economy.
On Tuesday, cities across China scrambled to install hospital beds and build fever screening clinics as the authorities reported five more deaths and international concern grew about Beijing’s surprise decision to let the virus run free.
Mr Price repeated Washington’s stance that it wants Beijing to defeat this outbreak not only for the sake of China but for the rest of the world.
“We also note that what happens in China does have implications for the global economy,” he added.
Leading scientists and World Health Organisation advisers on Tuesday said it may be too early to declare the end of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency phase because of China’s potentially devastating upcoming wave.
Mr Price warned against a new variant evolving from China’s outbreak.
“We also know that whenever the virus is spreading anywhere widely in an uncontrolled fashion, it has the potential for variants to emerge,” Mr Price said.
In response to Mr Price’s comments, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that China is constantly optimising its measures to strike a balance between epidemic prevention and control, and economic and social development.
China’s home-grown Sinopharm vaccine has an efficacy rate of 79 per cent against symptoms and hospitalisation after two doses, the World Health Organisation said in June, compared with around 95 per cent for US-made Moderna and Pfizer. REUTERS, AFP
