Josephine Mason, Jennifer Rigby

LONDON, (Reuters) – The World Health Organization’s head said Tuesday that China’s Zero-Tolerance COVID-19 policy was not sustainable considering the current knowledge of the virus. This rare comment by a U.N agency regarding governmental handling of the pandemic.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General) stated, “We don’t believe it’s sustainable considering the behavior of virus and the future.”

“We discussed the issue with Chinese experts. “We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts. We indicated that it is unlikely to be sustained… “I think it would be important to make a change.”

His words were accompanied by increased information about the virus, and improved tools for combating it. He suggested that it was now time to change strategy.

Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergency director, said after Tedros that it was important to consider the effects of a zero-COVID policy on human right.

Ryan stated, “We’ve always maintained as WHO that control measures must be balanced against their impact on society and the economic impact that they have. That’s hard to do, but it is a constant calibration.”

He noted also that China had 15,000 people die since the virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in late 2019. This is a far lower number than the nearly one million Americans and more than 660,000 in Brazil. India has 524,000.

Ryan explained that Ryan can understand why the country with the largest population would be keen to implement tough measures to prevent coronavirus contagious disease.

China’s zero covid policy is still controversial. Scientists and even citizens have criticized it. The result has been a vicious cycle of anguish, anger, and lockdowns that affects many millions. Most of the other countries who initially adopted its approach have begun to make changes to their strategies for living with the virus.

The spread of Omicron, a highly transmissible variant, is being exacerbated by the ongoing outbreaks.

Authorities can lock down large areas of population to stop any virus spreading in the event of a coronavirus epidemic.

Shanghai’s regulations are particularly stringent. Only exceptional situations, like a medical emergency, allow residents to move out of their compound. Most residents cannot even go outside their front doors and socialize with neighbors.

Critics also criticized the quarantine policy for isolating children from their parents and placing asymptomatic people among those who have symptoms.