As COVID-19 spreads and mutates, China has continued to work to control the virus within its borders in 2021. CGTN's Liu Jiaxin has closely followed China's epidemic control strategy and efforts this year, and reflects on what it's meant for the world.

Over the past year, masks have remained a crucial part of daily life in China. If life seems normal here, that's because an area has not reported a case in recent days. Even the detection of one case can set off a high level of alarm.

Communities on close management, closed businesses, empty streets and quiet ports, alongside busy health workers and daily mass COVID-19 testing. This is what Yangzhou looked like in August. I was on the ground reporting on the city's Delta outbreak, where cases went from a daily increase of 58 to zero.

The city of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province is going through something similar this month. As the virus continues to mutate, such scenes have played out more than 40 times in China since the initial outbreak in Wuhan. But most were controlled within two incubation periods. 

This is thanks to the zero-COVID approach China has taken, and it's one of the few countries that are successful at it.

"Zero-COVID does not mean zero infections," said Liang Wannian, head of Expert Group in Epidemic Response at China's National Health Commission. "But we have been able to quickly curb the virus, effectively control the epidemic and minimize the number of deaths and severe cases. This is there for all to see."

Chinese leading epidemiologists, including Zhong Nanshan and Zhang Wenhong, forecast the epidemic will ease in 2022. "The new variant Omicron has brought many uncertainties to our life. But over the past two years, the world has come to realize China is doing the right thing," Zhong said.

A high vaccination rate has also helped China with its zero-COVID strategy. "I'd say there is no doubt that vaccination remains the cheapest, most effective and safest route to combat the coronavirus," said Zhang Yuntao, vice president and chief scientist of China National Biotech Group.

China has the highest number of vaccinated people in the world. More than 1.2 billion got the jab – from high-risk, priority groups to the general public and from people over 60 to kids as young as three. China has also shipped its vaccines to more than 100 countries and international organizations, aiding the global fight against COVID-19.

Strict domestic measures reflect the government's priority to protect public health. China has also called for joint efforts to fight the pandemic globally and promised to make vaccines a public good.