ＷＨＯ、中国のゼロコロナ政策を批判　当局は検閲急ぐ

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）は１０日、新型コロナウイルスの感染を徹底的に封じ込める中国の「ゼロコロナ」政策を批判した。これを受けて中国当局は翌日、直ちに検閲に乗り出し、同政策に関するインターネット上の意見や議論を削除した。（写真は北京の検査会場を消毒する作業員）
　ＷＨＯのテドロス・アダノム・ゲブレイェスス事務局長は、感染力の強い変異株の出現が続く中、ゼロコロナ政策は「持続可能ではない」として、中国に方針転換を呼び掛けた。
　これを受けてインターネット上ではゼロコロナ政策に疑問を呈するコメントが相次ぎ、「ＷＨＯのテドロス氏でさえ意見を変えた」「政府はＷＨＯ事務局長の勧告を聞くだろうか」といった声が上がっていた。
　中国当局はテドロス氏発言の削除を急いだ。発言に関して活発な議論を呼んでいたソーシャルメディア上のハッシュタグは、１１日午前のうちに使用できなくなった。
　中国では、感染拡大防止対策に対する怒りと不満が広がっている。特に上海では、終わりの見えないロックダウン（都市封鎖）や厳格な隔離措置などに批判が噴出。中国本土では異例の抗議デモや警察との衝突も起きている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/05/12-13:11）

China's censors scrambled to wipe out online debate over its zero-Covid strategy on Wednesday after the World Health Organisation (WHO) criticised the country's hardline approach to crushing the virus.
China is the last major economy glued to a zero-Covid policy and enforces some of the most stringent virus controls anywhere in the world.
Those restrictions have trapped most of Shanghai's 25 million people in a lockdown with no clear end date, while Beijing has also gradually corralled many of its residents indoors as it battles its biggest outbreak since the pandemic began.
On Tuesday WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged China to change tack, saying the approach will not be sustainable in the face of new fast-spreading variants.
The intervention prompted China's army of internet censors to race to snuff out his comments.
Searches for the hashtags Tedros and who on the popular Weibo social media platform displayed no results, while users of the WeChat app were unable to share an article posted on an official United Nations account.
A social media hashtag about the WHO's comments, which had been a rallying point for lively online discussion, appeared to have been blocked by mid-morning.
Before they were expunged from the internet, comments had questioned zero-Covid, with one saying even the WHO's Tedros has now changed his stance.
Another wrote: Will our government listen to the WHO director general's recommendations?
Virus controls are causing mounting anger and frustration, especially in Shanghai where residents have raged against seemingly endless lockdowns, spartan quarantine facilities and heavy-handed enforcement.
The city has witnessed repeated protests and violent scuffles with police, rare images which have pinballed across social media before censors can catch up.
The ruling Communist Party says its virus strategy places life before material concerns and has averted the public health crises seen in other nations.
A foreign ministry spokesman brushed off questions about the WHO's comments on Wednesday, saying Beijing's policy can stand the test of history and was scientific and effective.
We hope that relevant individuals can take an objective and rational view of China's epidemic prevention and control policies ... and refrain from making irresponsible remarks, Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference.
Abandoning zero-Covid and allowing Omicron to rip across the country could result in 1.6 million deaths, according to a paper published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature by researchers at Shanghai's Fudan University.
Health officials have said vaccination rates are low among the elderly and warn rural health facilities risk collapse under an Omicron surge.
On Monday, vice-premier Sun Chunlan reminded disease control officials of the political imperatives attached to zero-Covid.
It is necessary to create the conditions for the victorious convening of the 20th Party Congress, she said, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The twice-a-decade conclave scheduled for later this year is expected to see President Xi Jinping secure an unprecedented third consecutive term as the leader of the world's number two economy.
Discussing Beijing's zero-Covid strategy on Tuesday, Tedros said WHO experts don't think that it's sustainable, considering the behaviour of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future.
Hu Xijin, the influential former editor of Chinese state tabloid Global Times, slammed the comments in a message to his 24 million Weibo followers, saying in the end, the WHO's attitude isn't important.