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After optimizing COVID-19 response, what shall we do next?
Gui Tianhan
People no longer need to scan the health code when entering the supermarket in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, December 7, 2022. /CFP
People no longer need to scan the health code when entering the supermarket in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, December 7, 2022. /CFP

People no longer need to scan the health code when entering the supermarket in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, December 7, 2022. /CFP

Editor's note: Gui Tianhan is assistant professor at the School of Public Policy and Management in Tsinghua University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. 

On December 7, China's National Health Commission (NHC) initiated a nationwide loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, achieving a significant shift away from the country's long-held "dynamic zero-COVID" policy.

The Chinese government started optimizing its COVID-19 response in early November. On November 11, the NHC announced its 20 adjusted measures to reform the country's approach to COVID-19 prevention and management, rolling back some of its most severe restrictions.

More than a week later, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued documents regarding COVID-19 prevention and control, providing clear guidelines on home isolation and medical observation.

This series of measures to optimize local COVID-19 responses is part of the country's efforts to balance pandemic control with social and economic development.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, China's COVID-19 prevention and control measures have served the country well, particularly throughout the first phase of the pandemic. The strict quarantine measures, paired with travel restrictions on international arrivals, effectively kept Chinese citizens largely immune to the devastating consequences that could have been caused by the pandemic. Over the past three years, China has maintained one of the lowest infection and fatality rates among the world's major countries.

Evidence from around the globe also demonstrates that countries which undertook national responses involving mass testing and tracing, as well as quarantine, handled the initial outbreak relatively better than countries with laxer policies.

For instance, according to British scholar Devi Lalita Sridhar's newly published book Preventable: How a Pandemic Changed the World and How to Stop the Next One, countries that adopted the above-mentioned policies successfully, such as South Korea, New Zealand and Senegal, bought time until vaccines were available. They also had faster economic recovery compared with countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, and Sweden, etc., which adopted comparatively much looser pandemic control policies.

Nevertheless, once vaccines became widely available, many countries shifted their policies to achieve high levels of vaccination.

The same also applies to China. As the much-needed booster shot became available in recent months, the country shifted its effort to balancing the need to protect the most vulnerable populations from infection with reducing the economic and social harms of lockdowns.

The optimized COVID-19 control policies in China raised economic hopes. We have seen cities, such as Beijing and Baoding, a city in Hebei Province, that have borne the brunt in the early days after the loosening of COVID restrictions, regaining vitality, but the country still faces a number of challenges, particularly in the coming few months.

China is currently experiencing a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases and health systems in many regions are under significant pressure.

Meanwhile, winter is the peak of the influenza season, and hospitals are also burdened with other patients with respiratory diseases.

The upcoming Chinese lunar New Year will also see mass migration and further increase the risk of wider viral spread.

Zheng Yang, a resident in Lanjiang Apartment, divides antipyretics and cough medicines into small portions and puts them in elevators, so that neighbors who are in urgent need of medicines could pick them up, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, December 22, 2022. /CFP
Zheng Yang, a resident in Lanjiang Apartment, divides antipyretics and cough medicines into small portions and puts them in elevators, so that neighbors who are in urgent need of medicines could pick them up, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, December 22, 2022. /CFP

Zheng Yang, a resident in Lanjiang Apartment, divides antipyretics and cough medicines into small portions and puts them in elevators, so that neighbors who are in urgent need of medicines could pick them up, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, December 22, 2022. /CFP

And the capacity of producing the medicines treating COVID-19 needs certain period of time to be fully mobilized and meet the huge demand of the 1.4 billion people nearly double that of the whole European population combined. Even if just a small portion of the Chinese population got infected, the demand could still be colossal.

But, lessons on reopening from other countries and regions might provide China with some insights to tackle current challenges.

Singapore has been lauded as highly effective in its response to and management of COVID-19. For instance, it focused on the early vaccination of the most vulnerable individuals, particularly frail seniors. In 2021, nationwide campaigns were carried out to encourage seniors to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

To accelerate the vaccination program, primary care providers' long-term relationships with seniors were leveraged to nudge that the latter be vaccinated. The Singaporean government had also sent dedicated medical teams to vaccinate seniors at home. The country now boasts one of the world's highest vaccination rates. 

Moreover, Singapore has developed well-coordinated transitional plans and updated them according to new developments, bearing in mind the country's socioeconomic conditions.

Vaccine hesitancy among seniors is a result of several cultural factors, such as misunderstandings of modern medicines, fear of side effects, and a lack of perceived benefits. These are also major factors that prevent seniors in China from taking vaccines.

Hence, eliminating seniors' doubts and fears and making vaccines readily accessible, particularly for seniors with limited mobility, is a top priority.

Additionally, people living in rural and remote areas who already experience health inequalities due to regional disparities also need extra attention from the government. Ensuring that these people have healthcare access and easing their financial burdens are some of the other problems that must be dealt with.

And actually, China is also updating and improving its handling of the pandemic both from the macro policy level and the micro measurement adjustments.

Recently, some cities in China have been trying to implement risk-stratified treatments for patients.

For instance, in Shenzhen, Suzhou and several other cities, COVID-19 testing booths are being converted into consultation rooms for fever patients and can prescribe basic medicines.

In Harbin, some COVID-19 testing booths have been converted into self-service medicine distribution boxes during nighttime, providing free medicines for local residents when most hospitals are out of regular service. Some of the medicines are provided by local communities, while others are shared among local people, especially from those who have bought extra doses or who have recovered and don't need them anymore.

In Nanjing, the local government has converted 16 buses into mobile fever clinics since December 19.

In Hangzhou, Chenzhou, etc., local community workers are handling out free fever and other COVID-19 medicines to the households with difficulties before the peak time arrives.

These practices are some of the latest efforts by China and its people to cope with the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

The following months will continue to be challenging for China, requiring it to further increase its vaccination rates and develop a well-communicated and coordinated transitional plan.

But one thing is certain – we are seeing the light at the end of tunnel.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)

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