GENEVA: China’s key zero-Covid strategy to defeat the pandemic remains unsustainable, World Health Organization said on Tuesday, adding that it had told Beijing so and called for a change in policy.
China has taken drastic measures, trapping most ShanghaiThe country is coping with its worst outbreak since the pandemic began, with 25 million people at home for weeks.
The Shanghai lockdown has caused outrage and rare protests in the previous major economy, which still clings to a zero-Covid policy, while movement has been gradually restricted in the capital Beijing.
“When we talk about a zero-Covid strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable, given the behavior of the virus and what we anticipate in the future,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told in a press conference.
“We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts and we have indicated that the approach will not be sustainable.
“Transitioning to the second strategy will be very important.”
There is a pressing political dynamic for China’s virus response with the president Xi Jinping assessing the legitimacy of his leadership on protecting Chinese lives covid,
Despite growing public frustration, Xi has doubled down on the zero-Covid approach.
Shanghai is the economic dynast of China and its largest city. The zero-Covid policy has fueled an economy that was just bouncing back from the pandemic a few months ago.
“We need to balance control measures against their impact on society, the impact on the economy, and it is not always an easy calibration,” said WHO’s emergency director. Michael Ryan,
He said any measure to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic must show “respect for the individual and human rights”.
Calling for “dynamic, accommodative and agile policies”, Ryan said the early response to the crisis in many countries showed that the lack of adaptability resulted in “great damage”.
He reflected on how the world’s most populous country officially had relatively few deaths due to Covid, and so he had “something to defend”.
Given the rapid rise in deaths since February-March, “any government in that situation will take action to try and deal with it”, he told reporters.
Tedros is discussing adjustments to circumstances “in depth and in detail with Chinese allies” to find an exit strategy, Ryan said.
Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical chief on COVID-19, said that worldwide, it was impossible to stop all transmission of the virus.
“Our goal, on a global scale, is not to detect all cases and stop all transmissions. This is not really possible at the present time,” she said.
“But what we need to do is drive transmission down because the virus is circulating at such a rapid level.”
China has taken drastic measures, trapping most ShanghaiThe country is coping with its worst outbreak since the pandemic began, with 25 million people at home for weeks.
The Shanghai lockdown has caused outrage and rare protests in the previous major economy, which still clings to a zero-Covid policy, while movement has been gradually restricted in the capital Beijing.
“When we talk about a zero-Covid strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable, given the behavior of the virus and what we anticipate in the future,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told in a press conference.
“We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts and we have indicated that the approach will not be sustainable.
“Transitioning to the second strategy will be very important.”
There is a pressing political dynamic for China’s virus response with the president Xi Jinping assessing the legitimacy of his leadership on protecting Chinese lives covid,
Despite growing public frustration, Xi has doubled down on the zero-Covid approach.
Shanghai is the economic dynast of China and its largest city. The zero-Covid policy has fueled an economy that was just bouncing back from the pandemic a few months ago.
“We need to balance control measures against their impact on society, the impact on the economy, and it is not always an easy calibration,” said WHO’s emergency director. Michael Ryan,
He said any measure to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic must show “respect for the individual and human rights”.
Calling for “dynamic, accommodative and agile policies”, Ryan said the early response to the crisis in many countries showed that the lack of adaptability resulted in “great damage”.
He reflected on how the world’s most populous country officially had relatively few deaths due to Covid, and so he had “something to defend”.
Given the rapid rise in deaths since February-March, “any government in that situation will take action to try and deal with it”, he told reporters.
Tedros is discussing adjustments to circumstances “in depth and in detail with Chinese allies” to find an exit strategy, Ryan said.
Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical chief on COVID-19, said that worldwide, it was impossible to stop all transmission of the virus.
“Our goal, on a global scale, is not to detect all cases and stop all transmissions. This is not really possible at the present time,” she said.
“But what we need to do is drive transmission down because the virus is circulating at such a rapid level.”