By Sumathi Bala
February 6, 2022
Source: CNBC
Photo Source: Unsplash, Ayra Pratama
China’s strict zero-Covid approach won’t be able to limit the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant, according to a U.S. epidemiologist.
Beijing may not be able to use the same “authoritarian approaches” against omicron because this variant is unlike the others, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Minnesota.
China’s strict zero-Covid approach won’t be able to limit the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant, according to a U.S. epidemiologist.
Beijing may not be able to use the same “authoritarian approaches” against omicron because the variant is unlike the others, Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said on Friday.
“Trying to stop omicron is kind of like trying to stop the wind,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
China is “uniquely at risk” to omicron, Osterholm said, for a combination of reasons: Early studies suggest its Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines are “not very effective” against the variant, and at the same time China’s success at preventing the spread of Covid so far means it has a very large population that remains vulnerable.
CNBC on Friday requested comment from China’s embassies in Washington, D.C., and Singapore, but had received no response at the time of this report’s publication.
According to U.S.-based consultancy Eurasia Group, China’s zero-Covid policy ranks among the top risks for 2022.
While the approach “looked incredibly successful in 2020,” it has now “become a fight against a much more transmissible variant with broader lockdowns and vaccines with limited effectiveness,” Eurasia said in a January report.
Sticking with the strict measures also could lead to more economic disruption, it added. “China’s policy will fail to contain infections, leading to larger outbreaks, requiring in turn more severe lockdowns. This will in turn lead to greater economic disruptions, more state intervention,” the report said.
China, which recorded its first omicron case in January, has doubled down on its zero-Covid strategy, in contrast to the growing number of countries that have shifted to living with the virus and lifting restrictions. Many of those countries use proven vaccines and have already experienced waves of infection — two major ways that populations establish antibodies to the virus.
Have you been required to take the COVID Vaccine? By whom? Why? How are they handing COVID 19 where you are?
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