The exit of the Zero-Covid policy in China was not the cause of the rampant spread of the virus, or triggered by the protests, but was already spreading unstoppable for a longer time, according to the World Health Organization, writes Reuters. WHO’s emergency director Mike Ryan described the end of the zero-Covid policy as an unavoidable strategic decision on Wednesday 14 December.Read More →
One of China’s leading health experts, Zhong Nanshan, expects China to return to normal after Covid-19 halfway 2023, according to AFP. After the surprise turnaround in early December from the zero-Covid policy, the country is now bracing for a dramatic upsurge in patients, both under quarantine at home and in the hospitals because the Omicron variant is highly transmissible but less mortal, he told state media on Sunday 11 December.Read More →
At the current pace, China’s COVID-19 vaccination program would need up to three years to protect its population, hurting its consumer confidence and economy, says Helge Berger, head of the IMF’s China mission, in an interview with Bloomberg.Read More →
China’s stringent zero-COVID policies are not able to contain the current omicron variant because of the highly infectious nature, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in a press conference on Tuesday 17 May. But the WHO also added each country can make its own decisions, even when they do not make sense according to scientific evidence, reports AP.Read More →
By lack of a decent crystal ball, predicting how and when the current Covid-19 restrictions in China will end is tough. But the recent news that China is canceling planned international sporting events for June 2023, is certainly bad news.
Reuters reports half May 2022 the country is canceling the 2023 Asian Football Cup finals due to the COVID-19 situation in the country.Read More →
China’s leading paper, the People’s Daily, Xinhua News, and other state media confirmed the country will stick to its current stringent policies for fighting the COVID-19 virus, says the China Media Projects, and other media.Read More →
Just as the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing ended, China’s media started to suggest the country is planning beyond the strict zero-covid policies later in the year. International travel has been virtually dead since early 2020, and many – including the China Speakers Bureau – have been waiting for a change in this policy.Read More →
Leading infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong from Shanghai expects the COVID-19 pandemic might be over by the end of 2022, he told China’s state-owned media half January. “This might be the last ‘cold winter,'” he said.Read More →
China has been successful in its zero-contamination strategy against Covid-19 domestically but will have to keep its borders closed as long as the virus is raving around in the rest of the world. Leading virus expert Zhong Nanshan suggested this weekend in state-media border control might relax when 80 to 85 percent of the 1.4 billion Chinese citizens are vaccinated, expected at the end of this year and diverts from the current zero-transmission policy.Read More →
The State Council, China’s cabinet, has set a provisional timeline for COVID-19 border controls that runs well into the second half of 2022, reports the Wall Street Journal. The plan was made in a meeting half-May, the report says.Read More →
Journalist Ian Johnson will become a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) from July 1, 2021, the council announced. At the China Speakers Bureau, we are happy to see Ian in such a prestigious position after what has been a turbulent year, both personally as professionally.Read More →
China might be ready to open its borders again partially in the second half of 2022, says leading virus expert Zhang Wenhong on a health forum in Qingdao in June, according to the South China Morning Post. That partial opening will depend on the speed of China’s vaccination program, he added.Read More →