China should end its anti-COVID lockdowns, the head of the IMF says

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, speaks Tuesday during an interview with The Associated Press in Berlin. (Michael Sohn/AP)

BERLIN — It is time for China to move away from massive lockdowns and toward a more targeted approach to COVID-19, the head of the International Monetary Fund said days after widespread protests broke out, a change that would ease the impact to a world economy already struggling with high inflation, an energy crisis and disrupted food supply.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged a "recalibration" of China's tough "zero-COVID" approach aimed at isolating every case "exactly because of the impact it has on both people and on the economy."