Even as authorities lock down cities in China’s worst COVID-19 outbreak in two years, they are looking for an exit from what has been an arguably successful, but onerous disease prevention strategy.
A statement by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), a study, interviews with Chinese public health staff and public messaging by government-affiliated experts indicate that China is exploring ways of slowly easing its zero-tolerance approach — with the emphasis on slowly.
China would “strive to achieve the maximum prevention and control effect at the least cost and minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development,” Xi told a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee late on Thursday.
Photo: AFP
It was the first time that Xi has emphasized minimizing the economic cost of disease prevention measures at a politburo meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The statement followed an essay published on Monday by Shanghai Huashan Hospital infectious diseases director Zhang Wenhong (張文宏) — who state media have described as “China’s Fauci,” after US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci.
Zhang wrote in the business magazine Caixin that the public needs to know that the virus is becoming less deadly if people are vaccinated and their health is not compromised.
“Dispelling the terror toward it is a step we must take,” he wrote. “We should carve a very clear path and not spend all our time debating whether we should continue zero COVID-19 or coexist” with the virus.
Change does not appear imminent, with more than 15,000 new cases this month in multiple outbreaks across the country.
For now, the Chinese government is sticking with the policy of lockdowns, repeated mass testing of millions of people and a two-week or more quarantine for overseas arrivals.
When it does come, any change would all but certainly be gradual and cautious.
Opening up carries risks, because the country’s success in protecting people from COVID-19 means many do not have antibodies to fight the virus from previous infection.
Moreover, China is using only domestically developed COVID-19 vaccines that are less effective than those developed by drugmakers in other countries.
“Given the still relatively low infection rate, the lack of the natural immunity and also the ineffectiveness of the vaccines in preventing infections, this is guaranteed to invite another wave of attack,” said Yanzhong Huang (黃嚴忠), a senior fellow for global health at the US Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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