“We don’t think that it is sustainable, considering the behavior of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future,” Tedros said in a briefing on Tuesday, adding that a “shift would be very important.”
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China to rethink its so-called zero-Covid strategy, saying the approach no longer makes sense as the omicron variant spreads through populations and the country’s economy suffers.
“We don’t think that it is sustainable, considering the behavior of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future,” Tedros said in a briefing on Tuesday, adding that a “shift would be very important.”
Tedros’s comments mark a rare instance of the WHO chief challenging a member state’s domestic Covid policies. Early in the pandemic, he faced criticism that he was too deferential to China, where the virus first emerged.
President Xi Jinping has clung to China’s tough Covid strategy, tightening pandemic restrictions in Shanghai and expanding a mass testing sweep in Beijing. Officials are chasing the elusive goal of wiping out Covid-19 cases in the community despite a growing cost to the economy and as much of the rest of the world opens up.
The WHO’s health emergencies program director, Michael Ryan, said measures to combat Covid-19 should take individual and human rights into consideration, as well as the impact they have on the economy.
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Musk says he would reverse Twitter ban on Donald Trump
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said Tuesday Musk would reverse Twitter’s ban on former U.S. President Donald Trump, while speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference. Musk, who has called himself a “free speech absolutist,” recently inked a $44 billion deal to acquire the social media platform. Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter shortly after the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol.
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Ukraine war: Putin could impose martial law in Russia, says top US official
With Russia, thus far, failing to achieve its objectives in Ukraine, and with no end in sight to the ongoing invasion, President Vladimir Putin could become ‘more unpredictable’ and order a martial law in his home nation to support his ambitions in Ukraine, a top American official warned on Tuesday. A day ago, US President Joe Biden, too, said that Putin ‘does not know his way out of the war.’
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Sri Lanka troops issued shoot-on-sight orders as homes of politicians vandalised
The Sri Lankan defence ministry on Tuesday ordered troops to shoot on sight people involved in looting or damaging property, a day after protesters targeted the homes of ruling-party politicians, news agency AFP reported. “Security forces have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life,” the ministry said.
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Netflix may introduce ad-supported subscription plans this year: Report
Netflix Inc could introduce its lower-priced ad-supported subscription plan by the end of the year, earlier than originally planned, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Netflix did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Netflix has also said it would crackdown on users sharing passwords as competition and password sharing were making it harder to grow.
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China’s Xi Jinping suffering from ‘cerebral aneurysm’, was hospitalised: Reports
Chinese President Xi Jinping is suffering from ‘cerebral aneurysm’ and had to be hospitalized at the end of 2021, media reports said. It is learnt that Xi’s preferred to be treated with traditional Chinese medicines rather than going for surgery, which softens the blood vessels and shrinks aneurysm. Of late, there have been speculations about Xi’s health as he had avoided meeting the foreign leaders since the outbreak of COVID-19 till the Beijing Winter Olympics.