China’s President Xi Jinping has attributed the change of strategy in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic to the need to «optimize» measures to protect the health of the population while minimizing economic side effects.
Xi, who had not spoken so far on the relaxation of the main measures to contain the virus in the Asian giant, spoke Friday during an event of the political leadership in which he celebrated the achievements of the last year.
«We have optimized the strategy to control COVID-19» to «better protect the lives and health of the population and minimize the impact on economic and social development,» Xi said during his speech, broadcast by the official media and picked up by the Bloomberg agency.
The President no longer uses the term «zero COVID» to refer to this strategy, despite the fact that for almost three years Beijing has defended this approach tooth and nail to justify the imposition of strict control measures, with indiscriminate confinements and tests.
The Chinese authorities have acknowledged a spike in infections following the removal this month of most of the restrictions, but international analysts agree that the actual number of sick and dead is considerably higher than the official count.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
