some global health experts have said the virus could infect as many as 1 million people per day, and international modelling groups have predicted china could experience 2 million deaths or more.
earlier this week, u.s. officials cited “the lack of transparent data” from china, a persistent complaint from washington about china’s handling of the pandemic, as a reason for considering its own travel restrictions.
the u.s. and chinese approaches to battling covid have been markedly different throughout the pandemic.
high infection rates in the united states early in the pandemic gave beijing room to argue its model of strict covid prevention measures had saved lives.
china has struggled to vaccinate its elderly population and has yet to authorize foreign mrna vaccines. its overall vaccination rate is above 90 per cent but the rate for adults who have had booster shots drops to 57.9 per cent, and to 42.3 per cent for people aged 80 and older, according to chinese government data last week.
the country has nine domestically-developed covid vaccines approved for use, but none has been updated to target the highly infectious omicron variant.
u.s. officials told the briefing they have offered mrna vaccines and other support to china, but chinese officials have said publicly they do not need u.s. assistance at this time. “we continue to stand by our offer,” one official said.