Call The Spike In COVID-19 In China Not Due To The Lifting Of Restrictions, WHO Director: Control Not Stopping Diseases

Illustration of COVID-19 in China. (Wikimedia Commons/Amakuha)

JAKARTA - COVID-19 infections exploded in China long before the government's decision to lift a strict "zero-COVID" policy, a World Health Organization director said on Wednesday, dismissed the notion of a sudden reversal causing a spike in cases.

The comment was made by WHO Emergency Director Mike Ryan, as he warned of the need to increase the achievement of COVID-19 vaccination in the country with the world's second-largest economy.

Speaking in a briefing with the media, he said the virus was spreading "intensively" in the country, long before the lifting of restrictions.

"There is a current narrative, China is lifting restrictions and suddenly the disease is out of control," he said.

"The disease spreads intensively because I believe the control measures themselves did not stop the disease. And I believe China decided strategically that it was not the best choice anymore," he continued.

Beijing began switching from its typical "zero-COVID" policy this month, after protests against the economically damaging restrictions President Xi Jinping is fighting for.

The sudden easing of restrictions has sparked long lines outside of fever clinics, as a worrying sign that a wave of infections is increasing. However, official tallies of new cases tended to be lower recently as authorities reduced testing.

In its latest COVID report for a week until November 27, WHO said China had reported an increase in hospitalizations for four consecutive weeks.

"So the challenges that China and other countries still have are: whether people need to be vaccinated, vaccinated adequately, with the right vaccine and the right number of doses and when was the last time that person got the vaccine," Ryan said.

Meanwhile, WHO senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said the UN agency provided technical advice to China, with Ryan saying there was an open communication channel.

The shock in China that fulfills changes in policies that allow people to live with the virus, quickly fades amid growing concerns about a spike in infections as the population lacks "group immunity" and has a low vaccination rate among the elderly.