During a meeting with experts at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on October 11, this country’s Deputy Prime Minister Ton Xuan Lan warned that more and more countries around the world are easing measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Measures to contain the epidemic and restrict cross-border travel could pose new challenges for China.
Ms. Sun said that although China has made certain achievements in controlling the pandemic, further studies are still needed on how the virus spreads and mutates.
This year, China has experienced a number of small outbreaks, and they have successfully put them out thanks to "Covid-19-free" approaches through strict lockdowns, mass testing, and travel control. back with a QR code. The world’s most stringent border control measures remain in place.
"The key to normalizing disease control is to prevent imported cases and strictly isolate infected people," Sun said.
According to SCMP, although China is still open to adjusting its "No Covid-19" policy, Sun’s comments seem to show that the country’s officials are "headaches" as more and more countries abandon their policies. fight against the epidemic. China is also considering how much it will relax anti-epidemic regulations, in the context of increasing external challenges and maintaining tough measures that put pressure on many aspects of society. festival.
Health experts say that China’s strategy is currently effective but unsustainable in the context of the upcoming winter - a time when the disease is more contagious, especially with the Delta mutation. China will also soon become the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics and they will have to welcome thousands of athletes to compete. So Chinese officials seem to be wondering when would be the right time to start living with the epidemic.
When will it open?
China’s top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan earlier this month said that China should only lift all border restrictions when foreign countries have few cases and the majority of the population. China has been vaccinated. So far, at least 78% of China’s population has been vaccinated.
However, he also acknowledged that maintaining drastic anti-epidemic measures would put great pressure on China. Even so, he still supports strict measures to fight the epidemic because the vaccination rate in China has not reached the 80% mark, so prevention is still very important.
Bloomberg said that China is now one of the few in the world that still pursues the policy of "uprooting" Covid-19.
On the other hand, Gao Fu, head of the China CDC, said that as Covid-19 became more and more like seasonal flu in terms of mortality and speed of spread, "a long-term strategy" - including living together with pathogens - will be necessary if mass vaccination does not completely eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
"China’s No Covid-19 policy has helped us buy a lot of time, from vaccine production and vaccination. If our vaccination rate surpasses the 85% mark by early 2022, we would have successful," said Mr. Gao.
"There will be fewer people infected with pathogens and the number of serious illnesses or deaths will decrease, leaving only mild cases. The virus will also become weaker. At that time, I just wanted to ask, if the world were to open up. come back and the death rate is low, why don’t we reopen?" Gao asked.
