BEIJING: China must adhere to its dynamic zero-COVID strategy to protect its vulnerable population and cope with uncertainties associated with emerging variants and the lingering effects of the disease, public health experts said on Thursday.
Liang Wannian, a member of the National Health Commission’s virus control expert panel, said that completely ending the epidemic in China would require increasing mass vaccinations among the elderly, strengthening healthcare systems and developing more effective vaccines and drugs.
While Omicron is believed to be a less severe variant, Liang’s comment came at a time when waves of outbreaks were reported across the Chinese mainland following a major national holiday. “Although the fatality rate (the number of deaths per confirmed cases) of Omicron is lower than that of the original strain and other variants, it can lead to large numbers of infections due to its fast and stealthy transmission and ability to evade immunity,” he said at a news briefing.
“As a result, the absolute number of deaths across a certain population would still be quite large, and the disease’s population-mortality risk remains higher than that of influenza,” he said, adding that Omicron can also threaten to overstretch local medical systems and result in excessive deaths. Liang said China’s large populations of elderly and people with chronic illnesses are at particularly high risk of severe symptoms and death if Omicron were left to spread unchecked. “If we relax our virus-control measures, there is bound to be a spike in new infections, and even many serious cases and deaths. We cannot stand to see such a severe consequence,” he said.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
