China to 'stick with' zero-Covid strategy, President Xi Jinping says | The Straits Times

BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday (March 17) that the country will “stick with” its zero-Covid strategy, state TV reported, as the world’s most populous nation battles its largest outbreak since the early days of the pandemic. The country where the virus emerged in late 2019 has largely kept subsequent outbreaks under control thanks to a combination of strict border controls, lengthy quarantines and targeted lockdowns, and has not reported any coronavirus-related deaths for more than a year. But the highly transmissible Omicron variant is posing a stern challenge to that strategy, prompting the authorities to…