In unusual public remarks on a government’s management of the virus, the World Health Organization’s head said on Tuesday that China’s zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy is not sustainable given what is known about the disease.

“We don’t think that it is sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, stated at a press conference.

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Following Tedros, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan stated that the impact of a “zero-COVID” policy on human rights must be considered alongside the effects on a country’s economy.

He also stated that 15,000 people have died in China since the virus initially appeared in the city of Wuhan in late 2019 — a comparatively modest number when compared to 999,475 in the United States and more than 500,000 in India.

With that in mind, it’s logical that one of the world’s most populated countries would wish to take harsh measures to combat coronavirus spread, according to Ryan.

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Because of the expenses involved and the lack of data on its effectiveness, WHO recommendations have never suggested mass screening of asymptomatic persons, as is now being done in China.

China’s zero-COVID-19 policy has sparked outrage from scientists to its own residents, resulting in a loop of lockdowns affecting millions of people. In reaction to every coronavirus outbreak, authorities close down big population regions to prevent viral propagation, even if only a small number of people test positive.

Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, was in its sixth week of a city-wide lockdown.

Shanghai’s precautions have been extremely stringent, with inhabitants only being permitted to leave compounds for extraordinary situations like as a medical emergency. Many are not even permitted to leave their front doors to interact with their neighbours.

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Its quarantine approach has also been criticised for isolating youngsters from their parents and grouping asymptomatic individuals with those with symptoms.

A disease control official in Beijing reported 59 new local COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

Since April 22, the city had recorded a total of 836 local COVID-19 cases as of 3 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission.

Since the outbreak began on April 22, the capital’s daily case count has not risen above a few dozen. However, it has found it difficult to considerably reduce them.

In Shanghai, the number of new COVID-19 cases has been declining for over two weeks, but it remains in the thousands, and limitations are tightening.

“We are still in a critical period of epidemic prevention,” Sun Xiaodong, deputy head of the Municipal Centre for Disease Control, confirmed.

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China has been handicapped by the fact that its stringent pandemic-long policy has left the population with minimal acquired immunity through infection, with highly transmissible Omicron strains causing infections. In most industrialised countries, the working-age population has enjoyed greater rates of vaccination than the normally more vulnerable cohorts of seniors.

The strategy is having a big influence on the world’s second-largest economy, with significant ramifications for global trade and supply networks.

According to an internal letter seen by Reuters, Tesla has paused most of its manufacturing at its Shanghai plant due to parts shortages. Tesla had intended to increase output to pre-lockdown levels by next week as recently as last week.