China's COVID-19 related death tolls halved from the previous weekly total of 6,364 to the most recent week's 3,278. A sharp decline in deaths and the downward trend of COVID-19 infections indicate that China has stepped out of the current wave, observers said on Sunday.
Stepping out of this wave of the epidemic doesn't mean that the COVID-19 is over. Because of the possible emergence of new variants and waning antibody levels among the populations, China is expected to see a fresh wave of epidemic rebound around June or July, the anonymous CDC expert warned.
It is estimated that 80 percent of the capital's population were infected with COVID-19 during the recent wave, so a robust hybrid immunity generated by natural infection and vaccines has already formed, Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist of the Chinese CDC, told the Global Times previously.
Immunity generated by natural infections will fade within five or six months, according to international data, but it will protect people from suffering from severe symptoms or deaths for a long time.
