China's zero-Covid policy not 'sustainable', says WHO chief as millions in Beijing, Shanghai face strict lockdowns

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that increased knowledge about coronavirus and better tools to combat it also suggested it was "time for a change of strategy".

Photo credits: Reuters (L) and EFE (R)

New Delhi: As millions of people continued to remain under strict lockdowns in several Chinese cities, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday (May 10, 2022) said that China's zero-tolerance Covid-19 policy is "not sustainable". 

"We don`t think that it is sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus and what we now anticipate in the future," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing, Reuters reported.

In rare public comments by the UN agency on a government's handling of the pandemic, Ghebreyesus said that WHO has discussed this issue with Chinese experts. 

"And we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable... I think a shift would be very important," he said.

The WHO chief said that increased knowledge about the virus and better tools to combat it also suggested it was time for a change of strategy.

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Speaking after Tedros, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said the impact of a "zero-Covid" policy on human rights also needs to be taken into consideration.

"We have always said as WHO that we need to balance the control measures against the impact they have on society, the impact they have on the economy, and that`s not always an easy calibration," Reuters quoted Ryan as saying.

He also noted that China has registered 15,000 deaths since the virus first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019 - a relatively low number compared with nearly 1 million in the United States, more than 6,64,000 in Brazil, and over 5,24,000 in India.

With that in mind, it is understandable, Ryan said, that the world`s most populous country would want to take tough measures to curb coronavirus contagion.

The comments come in the backdrop of China's leaders repeating their resolve to battle the Covid-19 surge with tough measures and threatening action against critics at home even as strict and prolonged lockdowns exact a heavy toll on the world's second-largest economy.

China's zero-COVID policy has drawn criticism ranging from scientists to its own citizens, leading to a cycle of lockdowns of many millions of people, anguish, and anger. The continued outbreaks also underscore how difficult it is to stop the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Under zero-Covid, authorities lock down large population areas to stamp out the viral spread in response to any coronavirus outbreak, even if just a small number of people test positive.

Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, has now been locked down for nearly six weeks. Shanghai's measures have been particularly strict, with residents allowed out of compounds only for exceptional reasons, such as a medical emergency. Many are not even allowed out of their front doors to meet neighbours. Its quarantine policy has also been criticised for separating children from parents and putting asymptomatic cases among those with symptoms.

Beijing, the capital, began another round of three days of mass testing for millions of its residents on Tuesday in a bid to prevent an outbreak from growing to Shanghai proportions. The city has locked down individual buildings and residential compounds, shut about 60 subway stations, and banned dining at restaurants, allowing only takeout and delivery.

(With agency inputs)