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Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good

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January 27, 2022

Can China's Zero-Covid Strategy Survive Omicron?

Relative normalcy is returning to many countries, but ever since the Omicron variant arrived, attention has turned to China's so-called "zero-Covid" strategy and whether it can be maintained.
 
With the Winter Olympics set to begin next week in Beijing, local cases are rising, Omicron has been found in at least 14 provinces, and more questions are being asked. China has locked down cities of millions over small outbreaks, and at Foreign Affairs, Yanzhong Huang writes that zero-Covid has become a point of pride for China's leadership.
 
Research has indicated China's domestically made Covid-19 vaccines may be less effective against Omicron than mRNA shots used in the US and Europe, and relatively few Chinese citizens are thought to have gained natural immunity through infection and recovery, Huang notes. That could leave much room for the virus to spread.
 
"[T]he Chinese government faces a growing dilemma," Huang writes. "Other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, have long since moved away from a zero-COVID strategy; China remains the lone holdout. Even though the rapid spread of Omicron could quickly render zero-COVID unsustainable, China has stubbornly clung to the strategy—largely, it seems, out of fear of the perceived consequences of abandoning it."
 
Epidemiologists have predicted Covid-19 is on its way to becoming endemic, circulating through society in less-dangerous fashion, like the flu or common cold, partly due to widespread immunity against severe illness. After following such a stringent policy to this point, it could be difficult for China to reach Covid-19 endemicity along with everyone else, Katie Stallard writes for The New Statesman.
 
If China abandons its zero-Covid strategy, "the country could be plunged into a devastating public health crisis," Stallard writes. "If it doesn't, it can't rejoin the rest of the world."

A Choice for the Tories

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "Partygate" scandal "has left the public feeling like mugs for obeying the rules," Robert Shrimsley writes for the Financial Times. "In this he has united those who supported lockdowns and those who opposed them, and they are not going to forget."
 
As such, Johnson is a lame duck, Shrimsley writes, arguing the crisis "has to be brought to a head" by Conservative MPS. If Johnson survives a challenge to his premiership, he'll regain "some authority," but he "cannot be allowed to languish. Resurrection or removal are their only options. MPs must trigger the vote and make the call."

ISIS Resurges at Syrian Prison

US-backed Kurdish forces have succeed in retaking a northeast Syrian prison captured by ISIS. As the siege unfolded, The New York Times' Jane Arraf, Sangar Khaleel, and Eric Schmitt noted the significance.
 
For one, ISIS can still launch coordinated attacks nearly three years after losing its territory, as Arraf wrote elsewhere. The prison seizure also pointed to an ongoing humanitarian dilemma: Along with 3,000 suspected ISIS fighters, the prison held 700 boys as young as 12, and the saga "highlighted the plight of thousands of foreign children brought to the ISIS caliphate in Syria by their parents, who have been detained for three years in camps and prisons in northeastern Syria, and abandoned by their own countries," the Times authors wrote.

Could a Russian Cyber War on Ukraine Spill Over?

As Russia and the West negotiate over Ukraine, many analysts have warned that even if war is avoided, President Vladimir Putin could launch cyberattacks against Russia's neighbor. At the MIT Technology Review, Patrick Howell O'Neill cautions against potential spillover, as malware can spread beyond its intended target and affect businesses and people around the world.