China needs to reassess zero-Covid policy, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund’s managing director said Friday that China’s zero-Covid policy is increasingly looking like a “burden,” which is impinging economic recovery both domestically and for the world at large.

Speaking via videoconference at The Davos Agenda virtual event, Kristalina Georgieva said the containment strategy, though initially successful, was now presenting more risks than benefits.

Zero-Covid refers to attempts to completely eliminate the virus via public health measures such as lockdowns, mass testing, and border quarantine.

“The zero-Covid policy, for quite some time, did contain infections in China,” said Georgieva, adding that the new highly transmissible omicron variant meant that these containment measures cannot now be easily achieved.

“The restrictions that need to be imposed are more of a burden to the economy, put more at risk not [for] only China but also China as a supply source for the rest of the world,” she said.