'Living with Covid': UK to stop publishing data, China back to work

The data is considered "no longer necessary" as the country moves to a phase of living with the virus with the help of vaccines and medicines

The UK health authorities said on Monday that they will stop publishing their regular Covid-19 infections modelling data in the new year because it is seen as “no longer necessary” as the country moves to a phase of living with the virus with the help of vaccines and medicines.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that it will continue to monitor Covid like other common viral illnesses such as seasonal flu. Since April this year, the data on the reproductive rate, or the R value speed at which the novel coronavirus infects people, has been published fortnightly as a monitoring tool.

“During the pandemic, the R value and growth rate served as a useful and simple indicator to inform public health action and government decisions,” said Dr Nick Watkins, chair of the UKHSA Epidemiology Modelling Review Group (EMRG).

“Now that vaccines and therapeutics have allowed us to move to a phase where we are living with Covid-19, with surveillance scaled down,” he said.

“We continue to monitor Covid-19 activity in a similar way to how we monitor a number of other common illnesses and diseases. All data publications are kept under constant review and this modelling data can be reintroduced promptly if needed,” he added.

The EMRG said its recent detailed review concluded that the next publication of its so-called “consensus statement” on Covid-19 on January 6, 2023, “will be the last”. The UK’s Covid incidence data will continue to be accessible from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey.

Beijing, Shanghai residents ‘limp’ back to work

Mask-wearing Beijing and Shanghai commuters crowded subway trains on Monday as China’s two biggest cities edged closer to living with Covid-19 even as frontline medical workers scrambled to cope with millions of new infections.

After three years of harsh anti-coronavirus curbs, President Xi Jinping scrapped China’s zero-Covid policy of lockdowns and relentless testing on Dec. 7 in the face of public protests and a widening outbreak.

“Our country’s new coronavirus epidemic prevention and control is facing new situations and new tasks,” the official Xinhua news agency cited Xi as saying.

The virus is now spreading largely unchecked, with doubts mounting over statistics, which show no new deaths reported for the six days through Sunday.