SINGAPORE: About the same time when the new Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2021, China shifted towards a new approach – to what is termed a “dynamic zero-COVID” approach to replace its zero-tolerance policy.
According to Liang Wannian, head of China’s COVID-19 task force, the goal of the new policy was to prevent domestic flare-ups through timely interventions, rather than achieve zero infections.
Compared to its early zero-tolerance stance, this flexible approach allowed for more relaxed rules alongside a suite of measures focused on rapidly eliminating any new infections. This includes early detection, frequent contact tracing, long quarantines and strict border controls.
What this now means is that a couple of reported infections will no longer trigger a lockdown of a whole city.
Instead, targeted lockdown measures among specific communities rather than entire cities or provinces are applied promptly once more than two new cases are spotted in a community within 14 days.
Under this “dynamic” policy, more emphasis has been placed on striking a balance between disease control and enabling people to live normal lives.
For example, susceptible villages can adopt stricter measures around their borders, including setting up checkpoints and imposing restrictions on people’s movements, while their areas within need not have such restrictions.
Yet this shift went unnoticed by most of the world. And because lockdowns of Chinese provinces and cities have persisted in recent weeks, China’s approach continues to come under international criticism.
With Omicron’s greater transmissibility, China too knows moving towards endemic living might be inevitable. But now is not the time for China to shift to living with COVID-19 when the high-stakes Beijing Winter Olympics are proceeding.
Still, Chinese authorities’ emphasis on the “dynamic” nature of its approach may signal that the Chinese government is ready to be more flexible and loosen restrictions gradually.
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