Strategy blasted as lockdowns linger

The head of the World Health Organisation says China’s zeroCovid strategy is not sustainable, a rare public comment by the United Nations agency on a government’s handling of the pandemic.

China has pursued a strict policy of eliminating infections throughout the pandemic, and has imposed tough lockdowns on cities including Shanghai and Beijing in response to outbreaks.

WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday of China’s strategy: ‘‘We don’t think that it is sustainable, considering the behaviour of the virus. We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts.’’

Mike Ryan, the WHO’S emergencies director, said the impact of China’s rigid Covid policy on human rights should be taken into consideration, alongside the effect on the economy.

Shanghai has doubled down on pandemic restrictions after a brief period of loosening up, frustrating residents who were hoping that amore than monthlong lockdown was finally easing as the number of new cases falls in China’s financial centre.

In some areas, people have been ordered to stay in their homes again for a ‘‘quiet period’’, after being let out for limited shopping in recent weeks.

Escape from Shanghai is all but impossible, but that hasn’t stopped an unofficial how-to guide – detailing how to navigate lockdown controls and nab a seat on the few trains and planes leaving the city – from circulating widely on social media.

The daily number of new cases in Shanghai had fallen to about 3000 by Tuesday, down from a peak of 26,000 in midApril.

Meanwhile, Beijing yesterday began another round of three days of mass testing for millions of its residents, in a bid to prevent an outbreak in the nation’s capital from growing to Shanghai proportions. The city has locked down individual buildings and residential compounds, shut about 60 subway stations, and banned dining at restaurants, allowing only takeout and delivery. – The Times, AP