Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/REUTERS / Deutsche Welle
The Government of China censored this Wednesday (54.05.2022) the declarations of the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who publicly criticized the “zero covid” policy applied by the leaders of the communist regime. The Asian giant is facing an epidemic outbreak that has been combated with harsh confinements and quarantines, even in metropolises with millions of inhabitants.
Tedros said on Tuesday that the “zero covid” policy was “unsustainable”. “The ‘zero covid’ policy that the Chinese authorities are applying in the face of the latest uptick in cases is unsustainable, taking into account current knowledge about the coronavirus,” the official said. He then added that “now we have a good understanding of the virus and good tools, so moving to another strategy would be very important.”
The Chinese Government He staunchly defends his plan, and censors quickly moved to prevent Tedros’s remarks from spreading in the country, where discontent over lockdowns is growing. On the Weibo platform, the keywords #Tedros and #WHO did not return search results. In the popular WeChat, meanwhile, articles that mentioned criticism issued by Tedros could not be shared.
“Irresponsible” statements
The official Chinese reaction was known shortly after. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called Tedros “irresponsible” for his remarks. The zero covid strategy “has guaranteed the health of 1.400 million people and protected vulnerable groups. It has made China one of the countries that have best managed to contain the covid”, assured the spokesperson.
“We hope that the people in question can view China’s anticovid policies in an objective and rational way. They need to know the facts better and stop making irresponsible comments,” he added. Zhao pointed out that the Chinese strategy evolves according to the situation, and is different from the one adopted by other countries, which have chosen to live with the virus.
The harshness of the measures with which the outbreaks have been faced -especially in Shanghai, totally confined for more than a month- has provoked an unprecedented critical reaction in the population, which has spread innumerable complaints and videos of denunciation through networks.
DZC (EFE, AFP)