China on Wednesday reacted to comments by the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general, who described the country’s inflexible and increasingly painful “Covid zero” policy as “unsustainable”, calling it “irresponsible”.
The policy has caused significant economic damage and caused widespread disappointment in China and abroad, placing hundreds of millions of people in dozens of cities, most dramatically in Shanghai, under varying degrees of movement restrictions.
Officials in Shanghai, now in its sixth week under an extensive lockdown, said on Wednesday half the city had reached “Covid zero” status, but restrictions would remain.
China’s approach contrasts with other parts of the world where governments have chosen to live with the virus.
Making rare public comments on a government’s policies, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that China’s zero-tolerance strategy is not sustainable and it is time for a change of approach.
Tedros’ comments were not covered by Chinese state media and were censored on the country’s social media, with the only official response coming at the regular press conference of the State Department.
“We hope that the person concerned will look at China’s Covid policy objectively and rationally and know the facts instead of making irresponsible comments,” said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
source: Noticias
