The chief epidemiologist of the United States, Anthony Fauci, defended this Sunday that there was a lack of transparency and greater protection of the most vulnerable population in the Chinese government’s strategy to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In everything we’ve dealt with in the last few decades, whether it’s bird flu or the original SARS in 2002, even when there’s nothing to hide, they act suspicious and under-transparent,” Anthony Fauci said in remarks to the North. television channel.-American NBC, quoted by the EFE news agency.
The epidemiologist, who will leave office in December, considered that this could happen because the Chinese government does not want to be seen as guilty. “It’s not your fault if something happens in your country, but let’s find out what happened so we can be transparent about it and prevent it from happening in the future,” he said.
Anthony Fauci, the face of the United States in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, also considered that the confinements in China have been particularly severe, without making it clear to the population what the goal that has been set is.
“The ultimate goal was for everyone to get vaccinated. So that the temporary confinements are understood [como os do início da pandemia]🇧🇷 But they went into a prolonged lockdown, for no apparent gain, which doesn’t make sense from a public health point of view,” he said.
China’s epidemic prevention measures are the most restrictive in the world under the Covid-19 ‘zero cases’ policy. The strategy includes isolating all positive cases and close contacts, locking down entire neighborhoods or cities, and constantly conducting mass testing.
In recent days, protests against the restrictions have spread to major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing.
The protests intensified this Thursday after the death of ten people in a fire in a white building of the confinement in Urumqi.
The Chinese capital, especially protected against outbreaks since 2020, is now experiencing the highest levels of contagion: according to the latest official report, more than 4,300 new cases were detected on Saturday, 82% of which were asymptomatic.
These figures, low by international standards but intolerable for the Chinese authorities, have resulted in restrictions and confinements that affect a large part of the population of the capital.
According to data from the National Health Commission, China broke the record for infections this Saturday by detecting almost 40,000 new cases, although more than 90% are asymptomatic cases.
Official figures show that around 1.8 million people are currently in quarantine, since the guideline is to transfer cases -including asymptomatic ones- and also, but separately, those who have had contact with those infected, to hospitals or isolation centers.
Source: TSF
