thatis massive strain on the health service that is relatively under resourced, compared to other leading nations. and, of course, 0micron, doctors had said that 0micron is just as aberrant as other strains, it wasn t as virulent here or didn t seem as virulent here because we built up immunity from being infected by all the other types of covid that have passed through the country before but of course in china under the draconian lockdowns, these people haven t had covid as of yet so it remains to be seen how many people will be seriously affected and have to be admitted to hospital. it is astounding. to be admitted to hospital. it is astounding, eight deaths reported since december the 1st, there are calls from the us for transparency, i suppose the hope is that china will have learnt the lesson, to be open and to share information. that is the hope open and to share information. that is the hope but open and to share information. that is the hope but it open and to share inf
services that we depend on. the zero covid policy in china is over. that doesn t mean that covid is done with the chinese. the world health organization has raised concerns that the 1.4 billion population is not adequately vaccinated. and it would seem that since they have unlocked, the virus is surging. this reversal of policy came very suddenly and people were not prepared for it. and we re seeing fairly chaotic responses, with the very, very rapid spread of 0micron. but establishing how big that pandemic is, will be will not be easy. officially there were only 16 deaths in the last month. and today the chinese government announced it will only count those people who die from pneumonia and respiratory failure, after contracting covid. even though covid may be contributing to many other deaths. in fact, if you look at the far right of this graph, you will see
on scientific evidence, they are saying the 0micron variant is significantly less dangerous, but the news came right after a wave of protests that rocked china last month, another is controversial zero covid policies. it also comes amid mounting evidence of the economic damage inflicted by zero covid. growth has been slowing in the world s second largest economy, there is a sluggish demand from consumers and supply chains have been severely disrupted. 0k, have been severely disrupted. ok, for now, thank you. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: is the cost of living crisis a pantomime villain that will kill off some theatres? cheering and singing
sufferings to many people s daily lives and that you imagine there for three years and that is the knock on effect on traders, workers, it is unimaginable at the moment. what unimaginable at the moment. what does this mean unimaginable at the moment. what does this mean for unimaginable at the moment. what does this mean for people in china and what is happening with the vaccination programme? again, the officials claim vaccination programme? again, the officials claim they vaccination programme? again, the officials claim they have vaccination programme? again, the officials claim they have over - vaccination programme? again, the officials claim they have over 9096 l officials claim they have over 90% vaccination rate overall and they say some senior groups have a lesser degree of vaccination rate and they are trying to concentrate on the older population, but the trouble is, many experts have pointed out that china is still using what they call the inactivated vaccines, wh
0ptimism, yes, but it s confined to this rare corner of the country without an energy crisis. james cook, bbc news, knoydart. the latest figures on covid levels in the uk are just out, based on a weekly survey carried out by the office for national statistics. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh is here. fergus, what do the figures tell us? so the figures say round two million people across the uk would have tested positive for covid, in the week up to the 17th october. that is round one in 30 people, and it is unchanged from the previous week, so some reassurance there, some variation round the uk, there is plenty of covid circulating but it looks like the autumn wave of covid may have peaked. 0micron has been