The country is reportedly witnessing a spike in cases amid the reduction of restrictions.

A senior World Health Organization official told The Guardian on Wednesday that China’s flare-up started “long before” restrictions were lifted, but since the sudden shift in policy major cities in Beijing appear to have experienced a huge surge in cases of Covid-19.

Authorities have said it is “impossible” to measure since most people are not being tested.

“The explosion of cases in China had started long before any easing of the zero-Covid policy,” WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan was quoted as saying by the newspaper on Wednesday.

“There’s a narrative that, in some way, China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden, the disease is out of control,” he added at the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

China had imposed severe COVID-19 restrictions for the past several months which triggered widespread protests.