Restoring normal population mobility to “Covid-zero regions” like China will cause some 2 million deaths in a year and the key to controlling the virus is developing vaccines that are better at preventing infection, Chinese researchers said.

China's “zero-Covid” restrictions, according to Reuters, have come under growing scrutiny in recent weeks as it hosts the Winter Olympics in Beijing while using sweeping restrictions to try to prevent the spread of the more infectious Omicron variant.

Chinese scientists and public health specialists have reiterated the need for maintaining stringent controls, saying the risks of transmission were too high and that mass infection would put intolerable pressure on the health system.