WHO: Omicron makes China’s ‘zero-COVID’ policy unsustainable

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization says China’s extreme approach to containing the coronavirus is unsustainable because of the highly infectious nature of the omicron variant. But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that it’s up to every country to decide what policy to pursue. Tedros said the virus has evolved since it was first identified in China, which stopped the spread then with lockdowns. But people have more knowledge and tools like vaccines to fight the virus now, so he said the containment strategies should be different as well. Tedros also said WHO was trying to persuade North Korea and Eritrea to begin COVID-19 vaccination.