China's Never-ending Covid Strategy

WHO's Tedros says China's zero-Covid is unsustainable

The World Health Organisation has told China that its zero-Covid strategy is not sustainable and that it needs to find a way to transition out of it. 

But China seems to be doubling down with Shanghai still under lockdown after 51 days and in Beijing, workers in full PPE gear are putting up razor wire on the walls of compounds to prevent residents from leaving.

"When we talk about the zero-Covid strategy, we don't think that it's sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.

Shanghai's lockdown has left residents depressed

"We have discussed about the issue with Chinese experts and we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable. Transiting into another strategy will be very important."

Interesting Tedros is saying this now, over two years later -- as he was previously a champion of China's methods of stamping out the virus. Does this mean the WHO will also quietly stop endorsing Chinese-made vaccines using dead viruses and using TCM to treat symptoms?

Nevertheless, it's a significant shift for the WHO, but will China listen?

Chinese state media is parroting how the zero-Covid strategy is working well, but doesn't taken into account the economic price the country is paying, let alone its citizens' financial and mental health.

People are frustrated, angry, depressed and desperate being prevented from leaving their homes, unable to get enough food to eat, unable to earn a living, and wondering when this will all end.

In Shanghai they shouted from their apartments, banged on pots and pans, sent out as many messages as they could to the outside world, including a video compiled on April 6 of their desperation, and there are videos of them physically fighting with people in white PPE suits.

Beijingers are wondering if they are going to get the same treatment soon.

People's Daily on testing, quarantine, control

The easiest solution would be to vaccinate as many people as possible with mRNA vaccines instead of those using the dead virus; China has acquired them but refuses to use them in the hopes of developing its own version. 

But there is no time to waste -- China should be injecting these vaccines in the arms of the elderly in particular and anyone else who is immunocompromised as soon as possible.

It's a pity politics is taking precedence over science. And it has made people terrified of the virus.

On May 6 the People's Daily published a statement from the Politburo Standing Committee chaired by Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Covid strategy. The 1,900-word statement only had 10 words on the vaccination effort (circled in the red frame), while the rest talked about focusing on testing, quarantine and movement control. 

Not only does the zero-Covid approach hurt China, but also Hong Kong and Macau too, both waiting desperately for over two years for the border to the mainland to be lifted.

However, this is not Xi's priority -- he is determined to prove to the world that the zero-Covid strategy works and at any cost. But the rest of the world has ignored him and moved on, with some countries with clear protocols in place if someone vaccinated tests positive. 

They are not locked down indefinitely or worse -- shipped off to a quarantine camp where there are reports they are completely unsanitary, there are not enough supplies and no definitive word on when they can leave.

Tedros last visited China during Winter Games

People in China are not praising the country's efforts in fighting Covid-19 anymore -- they are concerned about their rights being infringed upon and are demanding answers. 

And since Tedros' comments about China today, they have been censored from China's internet.

Perhaps he is not the friend China thought it had anymore...