German experts sure: China's zero-Covid policy has failed

Created: 05/09/2022, 12:05 p.m

By: Sven Hauberg

Corona test in the Huangpu district of Shanghai: The city has been in lockdown since the beginning of April.

© Jin Liwang/Xinhua/Imago

Virologist Hendrik Streeck believes that China is taking the wrong path with its zero-Covid policy.

Meanwhile, Shanghai is tightening its measures.

Munich – It sounds like an almost impossible task: through lockdowns and mass tests, China wants to track down and isolate every single person in cities like Shanghai and Beijing who has been infected with the corona virus.

And although the highly contagious omicron variant continues to spread in China, the government is adamant about its zero-Covid policy.

German experts like Lothar Wieler consider this strategy to be pointless: "The fact is: As far as I understand, this virus cannot be eradicated," said the President of the Robert Koch Institute on Friday evening at a congress of the

.

Wieler emphasized that he saw no reason for the very restrictive measures.

"In terms of infection epidemiology alone, it is not understandable what is happening there." At the congress, the Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek also explained that she did not think much of the Chinese zero-Covid strategy.

Lockdowns only make sense if you use the time gained to make provisions for the phase afterwards.

This can be done with vaccinations, for example.

But you don't see that happening at the moment, says Ciesek.

China's corona strategy: virologist Streeck believes that only vaccination helps

The virologist Hendrik Streeck also believes that China can only get out of the permanent lockdowns by pushing ahead with the vaccination campaign.

"China cannot keep up the zero-Covid strategy," said Streeck in an interview with the

specialist service .

Before the appearance of the omicron variant, this strategy “worked well”, but today things are different: “Even if travel to China were to be completely restricted, cats, mice or deer could cross the border.

We can detect the virus in all of these animals, making it almost impossible to contain such a virus.”

Only vaccination can help China now, and the country is well positioned with the Sinovac vaccine it developed itself: "The Sinovac vaccine, for example, is not that bad," says Streeck.

Although the vaccine from Biontech is better, Sinovac also offers good protection against a severe course of corona after a third vaccination.

Corona in China: Fauci declares the strategy “not sensible at all”

Frank Ulrich Montgomery, chairman of the World Medical Association, and US virologist Anthony Fauci made similar statements last week on Sandra Maischberger’s talk show.

“To impose a lockdown and do nothing else makes no sense at all.

You have to use the lockdown period to vaccinate and boost the population," Fauci said on Wednesday.

However, the inactivated vaccines currently used in China are not as good as the vaccines used in the EU and the US, and the vaccination rate among older people is also too low.

Montgomery said on the talk show, "The 'zero Covid strategy' has failed.

Lockdown again and again, that’s not possible.”

In Shanghai, the government is now tightening some of the corona measures.

The lockdown that was imposed across the entire city at the beginning of April was relaxed again in some districts.

But now, in districts where new cases have only been detected in people who are under quarantine, a new, even tougher approach is to be tried: Residents are no longer allowed to leave their homes, and access by delivery services and medical staff to the affected areas restricted for several days.

Corona virus in China: Shanghai tightens measures

"We must not be satisfied and must continue the fight against the virus until the pandemic is fully contained," the local government of Wanli Municipality said in a statement, quoted by the

on Monday.

In the city of Shanghai, which has a population of 25 million, a good 600,000 people have been infected with the corona virus since the beginning of March;

According to data from Monday, the number of symptomatic cases has recently increased again.

More and more corona cases are also being reported in Beijing, but so far at a comparatively low level.

On Monday, only 49 new cases were registered within 24 hours, although Beijing also regularly tests its approximately 22 million inhabitants.

Nevertheless, the city closed several city parks on Monday.

Many shops and several subway stations had already been closed beforehand;

the authorities had also ordered working from home.

Corona in China: The global economy is also suffering

The strict anti-corona measures that China is also enforcing in many other cities have long had an impact on the global economy.

On Monday, Chinese customs reported that export growth fell to its lowest level in two years.

In April, exports calculated in US dollars only increased by 3.9 percent compared to the same month last year.

It's the slowest growth since June 2020. Imports were flat at zero growth.

Trade with Germany has collapsed noticeably.

Chinese imports of German goods fell 9.8 percent.

But China's exports to Germany also dropped unusually sharply by nine percent.

With the European Union, China still recorded an export increase of 7.9 percent.

But imports from Europe fell 12.5 percent according to the data.

China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping commented on the lockdown in Shanghai for the first time last week.

At a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi said China will "stand the test of time."

In addition, one must fight any attempt to question Chinese corona policy.