The World Health Organization emphasized the importance of moving towards an alternative approach, while the strict restrictions are once again taken over in China’s largest city, Shanghai, where the constant closures are already beginning to affect not only its 25 million inhabitants, but also take their toll on the world economy.
After more than two years of the arrival of Covid-19 and after several weeks of the resurgence of positive cases due to the Omicron variant in China, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) assured that the strict strategy of the Chinese Government for keeping its population below zero infections is “unsustainable”, “taking into account the current evolution of the virus and our forecasts”.
“We don’t think it’s sustainable considering the behavior of the virus and what we now foresee in the future,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a media briefing. “We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts and have indicated that the approach will not be sustainable. I think a change would be very important,” he said.
Comments that the international health body is allowed to make after learning that the Chinese authorities persist in their determination to fight the virus through rigorous measures, even as the prolonged closures take their toll on the world’s second economy.
Other WHO officials also seconded Ghebreyesus’ comment, assuring that much more is now known about the virus than two years ago, affirming that the tools to combat it must be in accordance with the moment of the pandemic and must, in addition, be guarantors of the human rights of its citizens.
“We have always said as WHO that we have to balance control measures with the impact they have on society, the impact they have on the economy, and that is not always an easy calibration,” said WHO emergencies director, Mike Ryan.
During the press conference, the officials assured that although it is understandable that the most populous country in the world wants to take tough measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the 15,000 deaths that the virus has caused in China since its arrival in Wuhan at the end of 2019, It is a relatively low figure, compared with the million people who have died in the United States, the more than 664,000 in Brazil and the almost 524,000 deaths in India.
Strong criticism of China’s ‘zero Covid’ policy
The Chinese government’s strategy to combat the spread of the virus called the ‘zero Covid’ policy has consisted of a deployment of authorities in different urban areas, with the blockade of large areas, residential areas, places of food and of any other nature.
In Shanghai, the Chinese city most affected by the regrowth of the Omicron variant, the measure has even reached stricter levels. There, the almost 25 million inhabitants can only leave their premises for exceptional reasons such as a medical emergency.
In some other homes they are not even allowed to leave the door of their house to spend time in common areas with other neighbors and, even, cases have been reported in which food or external cleaning assistance has been lacking due to the restrictions of entrance to homes.
But without a doubt, one of the measures that has caused the most stir at the international level is the one that consisted of separating positive children from their parents and the one that combined asymptomatic people among those positive cases with symptoms.
And it is that after a few days in which the authorities relaxed the measures so that people could go out to do their shopping and personal errands, the Chinese government announced that people must stay in their homes again during what they have called a “ quiet period”, which they have planned to last until Wednesday. However, the measure could be extended depending on the results of the massive tests that are going to be taken during those three days.
With the announcement, the Shanghai authorities in white suits began to enter the houses of people infected with the coronavirus, to spray disinfectant on them. The measure caused concern by some citizens and there were reports of damage to clothing and valuables.
Shanghai municipal official Jin Chen acknowledged the complaints about the disinfection of homes, but asked for cooperation, saying the government would look into and fix any problems. He said that citizens can inform the disinfection teams about any item that needs protection.
“Carrying out household disinfection is an important part of the overall epidemic prevention and control,” Chen told a press conference.
Citizens are also required to leave the keys to their home with a community volunteer so that health personnel can enter whenever they need to, even if the owner is not at home.
The most recent report of virus cases in China’s largest city was 3,014 cases, most of them without symptoms, in addition to six deaths caused by the disease.
The “quiet period” also came with the suspension of service on the last two subway lines still in operation, marking the first time the entire city system has been shut down, according to online media outlet ‘The Paper ‘.
The ‘zero Covid’ policy takes its toll on the world economy
With most businesses closed in Shanghai and other major industrial centers, global trade is taking a hit. The electronics, automobile and technology sectors have been the ones that have suffered the greatest consequences.
Chinese export growth slumped in April on weakening global demand, adding to pressure on the world’s second-largest economy.
Exports rose 3.7% from a year earlier to $273.6 billion, down sharply from March’s 15.7% growth. Figures that arrive in a domino effect while the Chinese government refuses to abandon its strict ‘zero Covid’ measure.
With AP and Reuters
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