Washington is counting on China to manage the current massive wave of the coronavirus, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Thursday.

“We want China to get the outbreak under control,” Bloomberg reports Blinken saying from a news conference.

He said the U.S. administration is ready to transfer a batch of vaccines to China, but no such request has yet been received from the Chinese authorities.

He noted that the growing incidence of the coronavirus in China is ultimately affecting the global economy. The Secretary of State continued that, given this epidemiological situation, the United States is also concerned about the possibility of new strains of the virus.

Blinken also said that all countries around the world, including China, have an obligation to share information about the coronavirus situation.

Since 2020, Chinese authorities have had a “zero tolerance” policy for COVID-19: this has meant that measures such as lockdowns and mandatory quarantine for those who come into contact with infected people have been used to limit the spread of the virus.

However, earlier in December of this year, Chinese authorities lifted a series of restrictions adopted to contain the spread of the virus, causing a spike in illnesses and deaths.

Throughout the pandemic, China has diagnosed an estimated 389,300 cases of coronavirus and 5,200 deaths from the effects of infection.

News Reporter