Covid-19 infections were exploding in China well before the government’s decision to abandon its strict zero-Covid policy, a World Health Organization director said on Wednesday, quashing suggestions that the sudden reversal caused a spike in cases.
The comments by the WHO’s emergencies director Mike Ryan came as he warned of the need to ramp up vaccinations in the world’s No 2 economy.
Speaking at a briefing with media, he said the virus was spreading “intensively” in the nation long before the lifting of restrictions.
“There’s a narrative at the moment that China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden the disease is out of control,” he said.
Patients in China hooked up to IV drips in their own cars as clinics are full
“The disease was spreading intensively because, I believe, the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease. And I believe China decided strategically that was not the best option any more.”
The challenge for China in getting the virus under control is ensuring an adequate number of people are vaccinated, he said.
Ryan said the Omicron variant of the virus, which was first detected around a year ago, meant China-style restrictions were not as useful as they had been against previous strains circulating when vaccination coverage was low.
“The super-transmissibility of Omicron really took away the opportunity for using public health and social measures aimed at full containment of the virus,” he told a press conference with the UN correspondents’ association.
