BEIJING, Oct 27, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - One of China's foremost virus experts died 
on Friday, Beijing's top disease-control body said, after he helped shepherd 
the country through a hardline zero-Covid policy and its ultimately chaotic 
end.

Wu Zunyou was a leading expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and 
Prevention, known as the China CDC, who regularly appeared in public to 
justify Beijing's draconian lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.

The measures initially stifled the spread of Covid-19 but creaked under the 
pressure of fast-spreading new variants and were axed late last year after 
mass protests that tested President Xi Jinping's grip on power -- unleashing 
a torrent of infections nationwide.

Wu died Friday in Beijing "after medical treatment for a disease proved 
unsuccessful", the China CDC said in an obituary on its website. He was 60.

"Out of respect for the wishes of the deceased for a simple funeral ceremony, 
no (public) farewell will take place," the obituary said.

Multiple state-linked media outlets, citing China CDC insiders, said the 
cause of Wu's death was pancreatic cancer.

Born in 1963, Wu worked at a disease prevention station in his home province 
of Anhui before gaining a PhD in infectious diseases from UCLA in the United 
States.

He joined the China CDC in 2005 and won recognition for his work on AIDS 
prevention on his way to becoming the organisation's go-to expert on 
infectious diseases.

He was a regular presence on state television from 2020 as China rolled out 
its zero-Covid machine, often wearing a simple grey suit and spectacles while 
speaking softly about the need to control the deadly virus.