China rebuffs WHO criticism of its zero Covid policy
May 11, 2022 22:16
China on Wednesday scampered to censor World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' sharp criticism of its much-touted dynamic zero COVID policy as unsustainable, while the foreign ministry curtly told him to refrain from making "irresponsible remarks".
"We hope the relevant individual will take an objective and reasonable view of China's epidemic protocol and policy and try to get a better understanding of the facts and refrain from making irresponsible remarks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here answering a spate of questions on the criticism by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation.
Zhao said no matter how hard it is, the Chinese people and the government have every confidence to bring the virus under control.
"We have the foundation and capability to successfully carry out the zero COVID policy which is a protocol that suits China's national conditions," he said.
Earlier, Chinese sensors scampered to scrub the Chinese social media, especially Weibo, which is akin to Twitter, to remove Tedros comments sharply critical of Zero COVID policy of putting a number of cities on either lockdowns or semi-lockdowns to deal with the spread of the Omicron variant.
Tedros, once the toast of the Chinese government for praising President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus when it emerged first in Wuhan in December 2019 before it spiralled into a pandemic, said on Tuesday that the zero COVID policy which drew criticism from the Chinese public is unsustainable.
Tedros who faced global criticism for praising Xi and China as the virus turned into a pandemic affecting millions of people all over the world later faced criticism for calling a detailed probe into the allegation of the coronavirus leaked from a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
"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 told a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
"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 told a media briefing in Geneva.
With the availability of good tools, transiting into another strategy will be very important, Tedros said in the recording of his press conference 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 said in strong comments critical of China's zero COVID policy pursued vigorously by Beijing under the directives of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Wednesday, China's National Health Commission reported 1,847 cases, mostly from Shanghai, the country's business hub with over 25 million population, which remained under lockdown for over a month.
Also, the capital Beijing, which is under semi-lockdown, conducted the ninth nucleic acid test on Wednesday for its over 21 million people. The 10th test will be conducted on Thursday. -- PTI
TOP STORIES
© 2024 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances