Zero COVID coverage not sustainable; shift technique: WHO tells China

China’s much-touted dynamic zero COVID coverage got here beneath sharp criticism from the WHO which termed it unsustainable in view of the continually altering behaviour of the coronavirus and known as on Beijing to shift its technique.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned this on Tuesday whereas commenting on China’s zero COVID coverage beneath which many Chinese cities, together with Shanghai and Beijing, had been both beneath lockdown or semi-lockdown for extended durations.

“As we all know the virus is evolving, changing its behaviour and becoming more transmissible. With that changing behaviour, changing your measures will be very important,” Tedros mentioned.

“When we talk about zero COVID strategy, we don’t think it is sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus now what we anticipate in the future, especially when we have now the good knowledge and understanding of the virus,” he informed a media briefing in Geneva.

With the provision of fine instruments, transiting into one other technique can be crucial, Tedros mentioned within the recording of his press convention circulated by the WHO to the media. “We have discussed about this issue with Chinese experts and we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable, considering the behaviour of the virus I think a shift will be very important,” he mentioned in sturdy feedback crucial of China’s zero COVID coverage pursued vigorously by Beijing beneath the directives of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On Wednesday, China’s National Health Commission reported 1,847 circumstances, principally from Shanghai, the nation’s enterprise hub with over 25 million inhabitants, which remained beneath lockdown for over a month. Also, the capital Beijing, which is beneath semi-lockdown, performed the ninth nucleic acid check on Wednesday for its over 21 million individuals. The tenth check can be performed on Thursday.

As China continues to wage a grim battle to curb the unfold of the Omicron variant, President Xi has been prodding officers to strictly adhere to the much-criticised dynamic zero-COVID coverage, saying that the epidemic prevention has reached a vital stage.

In his much-publicised feedback on the ruling Communist Party’s excessive energy political bureau assembly in Beijing to assessment the Covid-19 state of affairs on May 4, President Xi harassed that epidemic prevention and management is at a crucial stage and known as for efforts to stick to the dynamic zero-COVID coverage.

Last week, China cancelled the 2022 Asian Games scheduled to be held in Hangzhou in September and the World University Games as a consequence of begin in Chengdu in late June.

Defending the zero COVID coverage beneath which China has additionally cancelled flights with a number of nations, together with India, for over two years, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian late final month informed reporters that China is presently going through an Omicron tsunami. “This variant spreads very fast, much faster than we can imagine,” he mentioned.

Zhao mentioned that China introduced beneath management the Delta variant assault in 2021 in about 14 days however the Omicron assault was way more extreme.

Since the lethal coronavirus first emerged within the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan in late 2019, it has claimed the lives of 62,55,791 individuals and contaminated greater than 51,87,94,928.