Coronavirus in China: ‘No timeline’ for exit from zero-Covid controls
- Expert panel head Liang Wannian gives blunt response to widespread speculation that restrictions could ease next year
- Without better prevention and treatment tools, ending the policy could overwhelm medical resources and lead to more deaths, he says
“We have been working to beat the pandemic but at this stage, from a scientific point of view, it is difficult to say definitively in which month we will have reached this standard,” he said.
But when asked to comment if controls may be gradually relaxed after next year’s annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and People’s Political Consultative Conference, Liang was blunt. “It’s not scientifically possible to clearly delineate.”
It was the first official response to widespread speculation that stringent Covid-19 control measures – marked by snap lockdowns, frequent PCR testing and travel restrictions – might loosen up after the next milestone leadership meetings.
Earlier this week, party mouthpiece People’s Daily published commentaries over three consecutive days that strongly signalled a continuation of the zero-Covid policy after the crucial 20th party congress which starts on Sunday.
Political observers have said state media’s portrayal of President Xi Jinping as the leader of the national drive to combat the pandemic has too closely associated him with China’s Covid-19 control efforts.