Published on: 05/11/2022 – 04:09 Modified on: 05/11/2022 – 08:19
The director-general of the World Health Organization considers the Chinese authorities’ radical health policy, the “zero Covid” strategy, to be unsustainable and excessive, particularly in Shanghai, where the population is restricted.
Deserted streets, massive demonstrations in Shanghai… Despite a slowdown in the epidemic due to Covid-19, China is continuing its “zero Covid” policy advocated at the highest levels of power. A radical health policy deemed excessive by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“When we talk about a zero Covid strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable given the current behavior of the virus and what we expect going forward. […]the transition to a different strategy is very important,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Tuesday May 10, claiming to have discussed it with Chinese experts.
Its director of emergencies, Michael Ryan, recalled that for a time this strategy allowed China to record a very low number of deaths compared to its population. “It’s something China wants to protect,” he said.
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Given the spike in the death toll since February/March, it is logical for the government to respond, noted Michael Ryan, “but all these measures must, as we have reiterated from the outset, be taken with respect for the individual and human rights”. The doctor called for the use of “dynamic, adaptive and flexible policies” as the lack of adaptability during this pandemic has shown it can do “a lot of damage”.
Especially since it is now impossible to stop the entire transmission of the virus, as explained by Maria Van Kerkhove, who is responsible for overseeing the fight against Covid within the WHO. “Our goal worldwide is not to record every case and stop all transmissions. That’s really not possible at the moment. But what we have to do is reduce the rate of transmission because the virus is circulating at such high intensity.”
A strategy subverted by Omicron
Late last week, China again said it would push ahead with its zero-Covid strategy as a “big trump card” against the coronavirus, despite growing frustration in Shanghai.
The city’s 25 million residents have been under strict house arrest since early April despite a recent drop in cases, a situation that has prompted anger and despair among residents, who are now protesting by banging their pans on windows.
During a phone call with his counterpart Xi Jinping, the French President was particularly moved by the fate of the people of Shanghai. Emmanuel Macron also insisted on “maintaining flight connections to France, authorizing travel to airports and protecting the well-being of children by avoiding at all costs to separate them from their parents. ‘ reports the Elysée.
Largely spared for two years, the Asian giant continues to apply the same policy, although the virus has mutated (with the Omicron variant) and become much more contagious than the original strain, which was discovered in China in late 2019. Chinese authorities — including President Xi Jinping, who has championed the pursuit of this strategy — are using the zero-Covid policy to sell their official record: fewer than 5,000 deaths from Covid-19.
With AFP and Reuters