Recently, China announced many optimizations to the COVID-19 control and management. These changes, including the newly-released 10 measures, fine-tuned protocols such as nucleic acid testing, quarantine, access to medication and medical services, vaccination and risk areas classification. China’s National Health Commission said that these measures were introduced based on the latest situation to contain the epidemic in a more science-based and targeted manner, especially after data has shown the new variant Omicron has turned to be less lethal, with a much lower rates of serious cases and mortality.
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Li Guangxi, member of China’s State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, said that in the past three years, especially in the initial stage, China has gained very successful results by controlling the COVID-19 cases through the dynamic zero-COVID policy. Now, with the virus becoming much less severe, “We will not lose any excess deaths in the next couple of months,” he said.
Daryl Guppy, a national board member of the Australia China Business Council, pointed out that the dynamic zero-COVID approach taken by China has bought China time to develop vaccines and medicines and also kept China’s mortality rates very low.
Columnist Keith Lamb who graduated from the University of Oxford with a Master of Science in Contemporary Chinese Studies pointed out that China’s Confucian culture emphasize on revering and taking care of the elderly. Letting the virus run free through the elderly population, which are particularly vulnerable and whom are commonly responsible for taking care of kids of rural migrant works, would have “stolen a crucial moral force and informal economic household provider.”
Professor Wu Zhiwei from Nanjing University said that vaccination of the elderly in the population remains a challenge. But with a 90 percent of the population fully vaccinated, it’d give China some confidence that China would be able to reach more people in the elderly population.
