Mumbai: Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday expressed concern over the rising COVID-19 cases in China and said the issue is 'concerning'.

"The news of rising COVID cases coming out of China is concerning, we need not panic given our excellent vaccination coverage and track record," he tweeted.

He said people should continue following the guidelines issued by the Indian government to combat COVID-19.

"We must continue to trust and follow the guidelines set by the Government of India and @MoHFW_INDIA," he said.

Adar  Poonawalla is the CEO of  Serum Institute of India which manufactures Covishield COVID-19 vaccine.

China is witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases in recent days.

Analysis by Airfinity shows between 1.3 and 2.1 million lives could be at risk if China lifts its zero-COVID policy given low vaccination and booster rates as well as a lack of hybrid immunity.

Airfinity’s risk analysis uses cumulative peak cases and deaths from Hong Kong's BA.1 wave as a proxy for mainland China.

Hong Kong took a zero-COVID approach for the first two years of the pandemic.

Therefore, when the more transmissible Omicron BA.1 sublineage hit back in February, population immunity from infection was low.

This, combined with a low vaccine coverage, led to a huge wave of both infections and deaths, especially amongst the elderly.

Mainland China has very low levels of immunity across its population.