With no exit strategy from ‘zero Covid’ policy, China could face tsunami in cases, experts fear
As the world watches the rare spectacle of protesters challenging China’s authoritarian leadership over its increasingly perplexing “zero Covid” policy, people who study the disease see threats ahead for China — and beyond.
The zero Covid policy, which has kept cases and deaths in China to negligible numbers throughout the pandemic, seems doomed to fail in the face of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, they believe. But the Chinese leadership does not appear to be mapping a path to a safe exit ramp, leaving experts worried the country could see a tsunami of cases that would swamp its health care system if the national containment effort collapses.
