COVID-19 infections in China were already exploding long before the Chinese government decided to abandon its strict "new crown zero" policy, a director of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday (Dec 14). He pushed back on suggestions that the sudden reversal in policy led to a spike in cases.


Making the comments, Mike Ryan, director of WHO's health emergencies program, warned that China, the world's second-largest economy, needs to step up vaccinations.

He told a news conference that the coronavirus had been spreading "intensively" in China long before the lockdown was lifted.

"There's a narrative at the moment that because China lifted the restrictions, all of a sudden the disease got out of control," he said.


"The disease was spreading intensively before because I believe that the control measures alone will not stop the spread of the disease. I believe that China has strategically decided that this is no longer the best option."

He said that China is controlling The challenge of the virus is to ensure that sufficient numbers of people are vaccinated.


Excitement about the policy shift that the Chinese government is finally allowing to live with the virus was quickly tempered by a surge in infections that fueled growing concern that China's population lacks "herd immunity" and the elderly Human vaccination rates are also low.

Earlier in the briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "hopeful" of a pandemic that has killed more than 6.6 million people since it emerged in Wuhan, China three years ago The virus will no longer be considered a global emergency sometime next year.

“It’s hard to believe but it has to be said that, three years into the pandemic, there are still major gaps,” Ryan said, noting that many countries have rolled back testing and surveillance strategies that were crucial to tracking the virus.