China accuses ‘some Western media’ of COVID-19 coverage bias

China on Thursday accused “some Western media” of bias, smears and political manipulation in their coverage of China’s abrupt ending of its strict “zero-COVID” policy, as it issued a vigorous defense of actions taken to prepare for the change of strategy.

The move in December to end mass testing and quarantines led to a sharp rise in cases, with some hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed with victims, Associated Press reported.

An editorial in the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily outlined what it called China’s “optimization and control measures” and blasted reports by media outlets they didn’t identify as “completely biased hype, smear and political manipulation with ulterior motives.”

Since the initial wave of new cases, life in much of China has largely returned to normal, although officials have expressed concern about a further spread of the virus into the countryside during the Lunar New Year travel rush now underway.

Despite that, the editorial said many localities have “passed the peak of the epidemic, and production and life are speeding up to return to normal.”

“Zero-COVID,” as the strategy came to be known, sought to track and isolate every case of infection, along with those who had contact with them and even third-hand contacts. It confined millions of people in cities such as Shanghai to their homes for two months or longer, with many suffering from food shortages and lack of access to health care.

China rejected both foreign and domestic criticism of the policy’s excesses, denouncing earlier calls from the World Health Organization for it to adjust to changes in the nature of the virus, calling them “irresponsible.”

China has also rejected calls to release more data and provide more information about the origin of the virus, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, accusing those making the requests of “politicizing” the issue.

The government has also lashed out at countries that require travelers coming from China to show a negative virus test, calling the demand “discriminatory” even though it requires the same of anyone entering China, AP reported.