China’s Epidemic Prevention, Control and Adjustment Policies

Editor's Note: The author is Dr. Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan, Executive Director of the Center for South Asia & International Studies (CSAIS), Islamabad, and Regional Expert on China, CPEC & BRI. This article only reflects the opinion of the author, not necessarily of Gwadar Pro.

 

Recently, China's COVID-19 epidemic situation and control strategy adjustment have attracted wide attention from the international community. They have produced shock & awe in the US and its allies.

In fact, the Chinese government has always prioritized common people's life, safety and health. The Chinese policy makers adopted a holistic and comprehensive policy of people-first and life-first philosophy, and have now been further adjusted in light of the latest developments. Right from the first day of the COVID-19 outburst, China has been open, transparent and cooperative with all the regional countries and the international health organizations to curb this health menace due to which it has been dubbed as champion of mercy, compassion, cooperation, coordination and collaboration in the world.

Time and again, WHO and many other regional as well as international health regulatory organizations have confirmed that China's COVID response and policy are scientific and effective.

Frankly speaking, the US false facts and groundless remarks about China's response to COVID-19 will not work; it may further widen the distrust gap between the North and South, developed world and developing countries.

According to many international health organizations, the US has more confirmed cases and COVID deaths than any other countries in the world, and therefore it should not have any right to blame China's COVID response and initiation of new prevention & control policy.

Previously, most of the states of the US were severely trapped in the deadly clutches of COVID-19. Even its federal government's response was not timely, coordinated, effective, and of course scientific due to which it miserably failed to protect the people and confronted with huge human and collateral losses.

Comparatively, Chinese policy makers initiated integrated policy and administrative measures and succeeded in controlling the wild spread of COVID. It has also extended its unconditional cooperation to all the countries around the globe and rigorously participated in controlling their domestic epidemic tsunami. Therefore China’s decision to adjust its epidemic prevention and control policies is not fumbled but factual which will not be derailed due to factitious propaganda of the US and the Western mass media.

The US current politicalized policy on Chinese travellers is full of prejudice and bias. It has clear socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic intentions of smearing China.

Truly, China's integrated policies of epidemic prevention and control have entered into a new stage. Shifting from infection prevention to medical treatment, China is seriously taking all possible medical, administrative and human measures to ensure a smooth, orderly transition and implementation of its measures to mitigate the negative effects of COVID in the country.

According to Chinese official data, it has so far successfully tackled more than 100 cluster infections since 2020. It fights against different variants of the virus, including the Delta, Omicron strains, and B-1 but could not change and compromise on its principle of putting people's lives and health above everything else.

Despite the US political engineering and smearing, the Chinese government has succeeded in effectively controlling its severe COVID-19 cases. The average life expectancy of the Chinese has continued to rise amid the pandemic, from 77.93 years in 2020 to 78.2 years in 2021. Thus the US propagated media campaign about the severely fragile gap between the young and elderly population is absolutely untrue and fake.

China's COVID situation in the whole is under control and at the diminishing path. Beijing is the first city to have gone through the infection peak, where life and work are coming back to normal.

Since China announced the decision to manage COVID-19 with measures against Class-B infectious diseases and adopted provisional measures on cross-border travel, many countries have expressed their welcome, but the US and many Western countries have announced entry restriction measures targeting travelers from China. In this regard, the Chinese government urges the US and the Western countries to make sure that their COVID response measures are fact-based, science-based and proportionate and it should not be used as a pretext for political manipulation.

According to the Chinese data (January 2023), as of January 4, 2023, a total of 3.48 billion doses of vaccines had been administered to 1.39886 billion people in China, of which 1.275855 billion had been fully vaccinated, which means 92.9 percent of the entire population had been covered by vaccination. Such high coverage has effectively reduced the rate of severe cases. Therefore, the US politically motivated policies against China do not have any credibility.

Furthermore, in the ongoing global resolve to fight against COVID, China served as an important provider of supplies, offering strong support for other countries' epidemic response and playing an irreplaceable role in keeping global industrial and supply chains stable.

After the Chinese government adjusted its COVID response measures, heads of international organizations including WTO and OECD have expressed optimism about China's economic prospects and confidence that this will shore up the world economy's recovery and growth.

The prevailing global economic recession and widening gulf of distrust and disharmony suggests that a science-based collective response and joint efforts should be started to ensure safe cross-border travel, keep global industrial and supply chains stable and restore world economic growth.

The Chinese policy makers have initiated integrated and comprehensive policy measures from top to bottom, from the state to society, from central control to community, from medical workers to mediocre common men, from scientific researchers to community workers and from seniors to youths. They all showed their love, respect and protected humanity with sincerity. They built an iron wall to safeguard common lives illustrating the great spirit of fighting against the pandemic.

It seems that a small number of Western media have intentionally created fuss about the new Chinese COVID policy adjustment, and purposefully avoided reporting on the deficiencies and heavy price paid due to their own countries' COVID response. It is nothing but double standards and is clearly against journalistic ethics.