Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
How China decides to handle omicron will have global implications – Yanzhong Huang
The arrival of omicron could be disastrous for China, Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, tells Ian Bremmer in a GZERO World interview.
Xi Jinping's zero-COVID approach faces its toughest test to date; the country lacks mRNA jabs which are more effective against the new variant, and so few Chinese people have gotten COVID that overall protection is very low.
Until it develops an mRNA vaccine of its own, China can expect larger outbreaks because of omicron, leading to more severe lockdowns and, in turn, greater economic disruption.
This will have implications not just for China but for the global economy as well.
Zero COVID currently remains popular with most Chinese people, but if things get really bad, Huang believes China will pivot to living with the virus, especially as the cost of keeping zero COVID in the age of omicron becomes too high.
- China's pandemic playbook will fail with Omicron — Laura Yasaitis ... ›
- The problem with China's Zero COVID strategy | GZERO World ... ›
- Ian Bremmer: Zero COVID no longer works, and China will pay a ... ›
- China's coming COVID crisis? - GZERO Media ›
- Vaccine diplomacy: China in the Global South - GZERO Media ›
Should China learn to live with COVID?
If omicron makes cases explode in China, the country's leaders will have to choose between weathering short-term or long-term pain.
Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, predicts that sticking to the zero-COVID approach at all costs will hurt the Chinese and global economy. In his view, learning to live with the virus is the way to go.
China can continue zero COVID until the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics, but after the Games the best move for Xi Jinping is to change direction. But even then, Huang says, it won't be a major shift.
“They're just going to quietly abandon it, or replace it with a new policy.”
Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World: Omicron & the undoing of China's COVID strategy.
COVID at the Beijing Winter Olympics
China's zero-COVID strategy will be put to its biggest test to date with the Beijing Winter Olympics approach.
Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, says Chinese officials think they are taking the safest approach, but that may not be enough against the more transmissible omicron variant.
That's a big risk for Xi Jinping, who hasn't left the country in almost two years — but doesn't want to become isolated on the global stage.
“When other countries learn to live with the virus, and the pandemic's becoming an endemic,” Huang says. “China will find that zero-tolerance strategy unsustainable."
China, he predicts may be able to sustain zero COVID for another year, but not much longer.
Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World: Omicron & the undoing of China's COVID strategy
- Omicron & the undoing of China's COVID strategy - GZERO Media ›
- China's pandemic playbook will fail with Omicron — Laura Yasaitis ... ›
- The problem with China's Zero COVID strategy | GZERO World ... ›
- Ian Bremmer: Zero COVID no longer works, and China will pay a ... ›
- What We're Watching: US-China Olympics drama, Venezuela's ... ›
- Beijing's struggle to keep the Olympics COVID free - GZERO Media ›
- The Winter Olympics in a divided world - GZERO Media ›
COVID immunity gap could spell disaster for China — global health expert
China’s homegrown COVID vaccines were once crucial — but they're not as effective against omicron as mRNA jabs.
What's more, with with local cases near zero for the better part of the pandemic, most Chinese have no natural immunity. That could spell disaster for Beijing as omicron surges.
Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, warns that the highly transmissible new variant will make zero COVID harder and harder to sustain.
If China’s current strategy fails, it’s likely that Xi Jinping will have to pivot to one that favors living with the virus.
Watch Huang’s interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World: Omicron & the undoing of China's COVID strategy
Omicron & the undoing of China's COVID strategy
Omicron is here. The bad news is that it's more contagious. The good news is that mRNA vaccines work against death and hospitalization. COVID may soon become endemic in some parts of the world.
Not in China, where Xi Jinping's zero-COVID approach faces its toughest test to date with omicron. Why? Because China lacks mRNA jabs, and so few Chinese people have gotten COVID that overall protection is very low.
Get ready for a wave of lockdowns that'll severely disrupt the world's second-largest economy — just a month out from the Beijing Winter Olympics.
That could spell disaster for Beijing, Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, tells Ian Bremmer on this week's episode of GZERO World.
Still, he says zero COVID remains popular with most Chinese people.
If things get really bad, though, Huang believes China will pivot to living with the virus, especially as the cost of keeping zero COVID in the age of omicron becomes too high. He thinks that's the right move for Xi.
Indeed, Huang expects China to start reversing course soon after the Games, and when the pandemic becomes endemic in other parts of the world. Beijing will throw in the towel on zero tolerance in 1-2 years, max.
Also, a look at vaccine incentives around the world. Do prizes like cows and brothel visits actually convince holdouts to get the jab?
Subscribe to GZERO Media's YouTube channel to get notifications when new episodes are published.
- Is omicron the best thing that's happened since the pandemic started ... ›
- China's pandemic playbook will fail with Omicron — Laura Yasaitis ... ›
- China's coming COVID crisis? - GZERO Media ›
- The problem with China's Zero COVID strategy | GZERO World ... ›
- Ian Bremmer: Zero COVID no longer works, and China will pay a ... ›
- End of globalization for Russia - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: China's uphill battles, from Putin to COVID: Newsweek's Melinda Liu - GZERO Media ›
- COVID immunity gap could spell disaster for China — global health expert - GZERO Media ›
Podcast: The problem with China’s Zero COVID strategy
Listen: Xi Jinping's zero-COVID approach faces its toughest test to date with omicron. Why? Because China lacks mRNA jabs, and so few Chinese people have gotten COVID that overall protection is very low. A wave of lockdowns could disrupt the world's second-largest economy — just a month out from the Beijing Winter Olympics.
That could spell disaster for Beijing, Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast. If things get really bad, though, Huang believes China will pivot to living with the virus, especially as the cost of keeping zero COVID in the age of omicron becomes too high.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.- China's coming COVID crisis? - GZERO Media ›
- Kevin Rudd: COVID has made Xi Jinping zero-risk - GZERO Media ›
- Ian Bremmer: Zero COVID no longer works, and China will pay a ... ›
- How China decides to handle omicron will have global implications – Yanzhong Huang - GZERO Media ›
- Eastern European leaders visit Kyiv in unprecedented show of support - GZERO Media ›
- China isn't budging on zero-COVID - GZERO Media ›
- China’s discontent & the Russia distraction - GZERO Media ›
- China's year of unpredictability - GZERO Media ›
- COVID protests spread in China - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: How we overcome infectious disease with a public health renaissance - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: No Empire lasts forever: How China’s rise could trigger a new world order - GZERO Media ›
- COVID immunity gap could spell disaster for China — global health expert - GZERO Media ›
- Omicron & the undoing of China's COVID strategy - GZERO Media ›
What is China’s zero-COVID policy?
We've all heard about there being zero COVID in China. But there's more to Beijing's pandemic containment strategy, which started immediately after the initial Wuhan outbreak.
"Through swift action, lockdowns, quarantine and contact tracing, the country was able to quickly reduce cases," says Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"The success in Wuhan led to greater implementation countrywide, and ever since Beijing has kept COVID at bay." Zero COVID, by the way, "means zero — not close to zero," which explains why Shanghai Disneyland shut down and 30,000 tests were conducted after a single suspected infection.
Despite lockdowns, Huang says the policy is quite popular in China, where many people "are even proud that the country has gotten the virus under control, especially as the United States struggles."
- Ian Bremmer: Zero COVID no longer works, and China will pay a ... ›
- China's coming COVID crisis? - GZERO Media ›
- The Graphic Truth: COVID deaths falling in leading countries ... ›
- China isn't budging on zero-COVID - GZERO Media ›
- No optimism after Austrian leader’s meeting with Putin on Ukraine - GZERO Media ›
- China's big problem isn’t Ukraine — it’s COVID - GZERO Media ›
- Who cares if Elon Musk bought Twitter? - GZERO Media ›