China Faces 'Colossal Outbreak' On US-Style Reopening: Study

A switch from China's current Covid elimination strategy to an American-style approach with few restrictions would lead to as many as 637,155 infections a day, according to the study, which was published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on November 24.

China would face a "colossal outbreak" on a scale beyond anything any other country has yet seen, if it were to reopen in a similar manner to the U.S.

That's a prediction based on statistical modeling by researchers at Beijing's prestigious Peking University. A switch from China's current Covid elimination strategy to an American-style approach with few restrictions would lead to as many as 637,155 infections a day, according to the study, which was published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Nov. 24.

That would be the largest daily figure reported by any country since the start of the pandemic. The study also predicted a rise in China's infections if it adopted the policies of the U.K., Israel, Spain or France.

Under the current containment effort, Chinese daily infections have rarely exceeded 100. The U.S. recorded an average of about 150,000 daily cases during the period the study referenced for modeling.