The World Health Organization has said that China’s strategy against the Corona virus is unsustainable. China is taking strong action, and criticism of the WHO has been blocked on many social media platforms.
China has always had a zero-sum strategy in the fight against the coronavirus, and for a while it also managed to keep infection rates low.
Recently, infection rates have been much higher, in part due to the high prevalence of the omicron variant, and the low proportion of older adults who have been vaccinated.
For more than a month and a half the big city Shanghai has been closed under very strict measures. The city’s residents were largely not allowed to leave their homes, and many complained about the lack of food access.
Residents are said to have been locked up without warning in April – watch the video:
Neighborhoods in the capital, Beijing, were also closed in the past week.
The head of the World Health Organization believes it is time for China to make changes.
– When it comes to the zero-sight strategy for covid-19, we don’t think it is sustainable given the evolution of the virus and what we expect in the future, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.
He said the WHO has been in touch with Chinese experts and asked them to change the strategy, but it appears that China is not interested in listening.
The remarks did not go well with the Chinese authorities, who responded on Wednesday:
“We hope relevant people can view China’s epidemic prevention and control strategy, objectively and rationally, gain more knowledge about the facts and refrain from making irresponsible comments,” said Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The country, with a population of over 1.4 billion, has seen just over 5,000 deaths from COVID-19 during the pandemic, with 33 deaths recorded so far this week.
On Monday, 3,426 new cases of corona were recorded in the country, which is the lowest number in a single day since March 16.
Despite this, Chinese President Xi Jinping insisted on strict measures, arguing that the relief would lead to widespread infection, many serious illnesses and deaths due to the large number of elderly and poor health.
The Chinese authorities’ epidemic prevention and control strategy will stand the test of history. The spokesperson claims that our prevention and control measures are scientific and effective.
Censored and removed
On Wednesday morning, the United Nations published a blog post on Weibo, one of the largest social media platforms in China, with the statements of the head of the World Health Organization.
He writes that during the morning the post is no longer visible due to “user privacy settings” CNN. It is not clear under what circumstances the settings were changed.
And according to CNN, the so-called “hashtag” named after Tedros has also been banned. Photos showing his face have been removed, but posts with his name are still visible.
The United Nations also published an article on WeChat, another major social media app in China, with a statement from the World Health Organization. On Wednesday morning, the post was removed for “violating relevant laws and regulations.”
Videos of the head of the World Health Organization have also been removed from the platform.
“Organizer. Social media geek. General communicator. Bacon scholar. Proud pop culture trailblazer.”
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