Scientists fear second coronavirus wave as China eases lockdown

  DUBAI – As Chinese authorities lifted travel restrictions in Hubei province, the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts voiced concern of a second wave of the coronavirus. “It’s time to relax the lockdown, but we need to be alert for a potential second wave of infections,” said Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at University of Hong Kong. Cowling says that if a second coronavirus wave comes, it would emerge by the end of April. China is now using extensive testing and contact tracing to pinpoint new infections. It has also closed its borders to non-residents to prevent new cases. However, researchers say that while China’s aggressive measures to contain Covid-19 has worked, other countries like Italy and Spain may face more challenges with an extended pandemic, says Cowling. He believes other countries might struggle if they needed to do wide-ranging Covid-19 tests like in Wuhan where 10,000 tests per day were done at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Gabriel Leung, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Hong Kong, said the risk of new outbreaks in China is high given the human-to-human transmission of the virus. Leung said one lockdown might not be enough and severe efforts to curb the spread of the virus may be needed again. In Hubei, people are slowly leaving their homes and returning to work, although schools remain closed pending “a scientific assessment”. Since March 18, only one new case has been reported there. Andrew Tatem, an emerging-disease researcher at University of Southampton, said China’s situation is “so far, so good”. “We’re at the ‘wait and see’ stage. How the graphs look as movement levels keep rising back towards normality will be very interesting,” he said. ICA/Scientific American/Expat Media
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