Scholars in touch with Chinese scientists say some are writing internal advisories on how to safely drop the zero-covid policy
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskMany foreign experts are questioning the strategy. Can it work, they ask, against the highly transmissible Omicron variant? Michael Osterholm, an American epidemiologist, calls Omicron unstoppable. In January he co-wrote an op-ed warning that China had set itself up for disaster.
It is one thing for foreigners to call for change, but lately China’s doctors and epidemiologists have also hinted that a new approach is needed. Though they continue to swear by the zero-covid policy in public, they are quietly changing what “zero” means. Since late last year Liang Wannian, a top Chinese epidemiologist, has been telling state media that China’s new “dynamic zero” policy does not mean zero infections and that the most stringent measures will not last forever.
The politics of all this are complicated. China has taken great pride in its covid strategy, which has seen it do better, in terms both of avoiding deaths and of preserving economic growth, than any other large country. Politicians may be loth to ease restrictions in the months leading up to an all-important Communist Party meeting later this year, when President Xi Jinping is expected to extend his rule.
Dr Zeng’s post about the Chinese road map to coexistence has disappeared. But there are indications that attitudes towards covid are changing in the country. Last summer Dr Zhang was attacked online by nationalists when he wrote that China would eventually have to live with the virus. They accused him of pandering to Western ideas and wanting to see people die. His latest post, though, drew many supportive comments.
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