China’s ‘zero-COVID’ limits saved lives but no clear exit

By CARLA K. JOHNSON and MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writers

China’s strategy of controlling the coronavirus with lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines has provoked the greatest show of public dissent against the ruling Communist Party in decades. Most protesters on the mainland and in Hong Kong have focused their anger on restrictions that confine families to their homes for months. Global health experts say the “zero-COVID” policies saved lives at first. But now China’s population has very little exposure to the virus. And China is using only domestically developed vaccines that are less effective than those widely used elsewhere. Experts agree that finding a path forward will be difficult without surges in cases and deaths.