Mary Wilson
Well-known member
PUBLISHED 15 HOURS AGO
UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO
JAMES GRIFFITHS - ASIA CORRESPONDENT
HONG KONG
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has become the latest target of China’s censors, as Beijing attempts to manage discontent with its draconian “zero-COVID” policies.
At a media briefing Tuesday, Dr. Tedros said the WHO believes China’s pandemic approach “will not be sustainable” and recommended a shift in policy.
“The virus is evolving, changing its behaviours, becoming more transmissible,” he told reporters. “When we talk about a ‘zero-COVID’ strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable.”
Speaking after Dr. Tedros, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said governments “need to balance the control measures against the impact they have on society, the impact they have on the economy.”
The WHO officials’ comments were initially shared on Chinese social media, including by verified accounts linked to the United Nations, but the posts were later deleted. Posts under a hashtag on Weibo – “WHO says China’s zero policy is unsustainable” – were also disabled.
Asked about Dr. Tedros’s comments at a regular news conference Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he hoped “the relevant individual can view Chinese COVID policy objectively and rationally and know the facts, instead of making irresponsible remarks.”
... In a paper published by the journal Nature this week, a group of researchers at Shanghai’s Fudan University warned that current vaccine coverage “would be insufficient to prevent an Omicron wave that would result in exceeding critical care capacity with a projected intensive care unit peak demand of 15.6 times the existing capacity and causing approximately 1.55 million deaths.”
The country’s zero-COVID policy is proving increasingly costly, however, and not just socially. China’s economy is suffering as a result of the lockdowns and controls on nationwide travel. The jobless rate is at its highest since May, 2020, and on Saturday Premier Li Keqiang warned that employment faced a “complex and grave” situation. Few analysts expect China to hit its official growth target for this year of about 5.5 per cent, even with significant government intervention.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/wor...o-chief-after-he-warns-zero-covid-policy-not/
UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO
JAMES GRIFFITHS - ASIA CORRESPONDENT
HONG KONG
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has become the latest target of China’s censors, as Beijing attempts to manage discontent with its draconian “zero-COVID” policies.
At a media briefing Tuesday, Dr. Tedros said the WHO believes China’s pandemic approach “will not be sustainable” and recommended a shift in policy.
“The virus is evolving, changing its behaviours, becoming more transmissible,” he told reporters. “When we talk about a ‘zero-COVID’ strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable.”
Speaking after Dr. Tedros, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said governments “need to balance the control measures against the impact they have on society, the impact they have on the economy.”
The WHO officials’ comments were initially shared on Chinese social media, including by verified accounts linked to the United Nations, but the posts were later deleted. Posts under a hashtag on Weibo – “WHO says China’s zero policy is unsustainable” – were also disabled.
Asked about Dr. Tedros’s comments at a regular news conference Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he hoped “the relevant individual can view Chinese COVID policy objectively and rationally and know the facts, instead of making irresponsible remarks.”
... In a paper published by the journal Nature this week, a group of researchers at Shanghai’s Fudan University warned that current vaccine coverage “would be insufficient to prevent an Omicron wave that would result in exceeding critical care capacity with a projected intensive care unit peak demand of 15.6 times the existing capacity and causing approximately 1.55 million deaths.”
The country’s zero-COVID policy is proving increasingly costly, however, and not just socially. China’s economy is suffering as a result of the lockdowns and controls on nationwide travel. The jobless rate is at its highest since May, 2020, and on Saturday Premier Li Keqiang warned that employment faced a “complex and grave” situation. Few analysts expect China to hit its official growth target for this year of about 5.5 per cent, even with significant government intervention.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/wor...o-chief-after-he-warns-zero-covid-policy-not/
