On May 20, 2022, Chinese Consul General in Penang Mr. Lu Shiwei published a signed article titled “Why China Insists on a Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy” in Malaysian media Sin Chew Daily to expound on China’s epidemic prevention and control policy, pointing out that the dynamic zero-COVID policy respects scientific laws, chooses the best solution, and protects basic human rights, which is the epidemic prevention and control policy that best suits China’s conditions. The full text is as follows:

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, China has always put protecting the people and human life above everything else, and confirmed the overall strategy of “preventing inbound cases and domestic resurgence”. China carries out the general policy of dynamic zero-COVID to contain the spread of the pandemic to the greatest extent possible and effectively protect the health and life of the people. Recently, someone from the international community has questioned the necessity of this policy and those opponents’ narratives are like this: “China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy is not sustainable”, “China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy threatens the stability of supply chain”, etc. They call for a shift in approach by China as soon as possible. However, China’s practices on epidemic prevention and control over the past two years have proven that the dynamic zero-COVID policy can contain the spread of COVID-19 in the shortest period of time, minimize the impacts of the pandemic on people’s normal work and life, and ensure the continuous, healthy and stable development of China’s economy and society. 

The dynamic zero-COVID policy respects scientific laws. The dynamic zero-COVID policy does not indicate “absolute zero infection”. Its goal is to realize the most effective containment with the most negligible costs, with taking swift actions and precise and comprehensive measures as the core. To this end, China has summarized a set of scientific and effective measures and experience in emergency response, medical treatment, nucleic acid tests screening and origin tracing, social participation, joint prevention and control mechanism, etc., and optimize these measures according to the emerging coronavirus variants and new pandemic conditions. Since entering the stage of regular epidemic prevention and control, China has withstood the severest test of several rounds of COVID-19 outbreak with the quick and effective disposal of many regional cluster COVID-19 cases. At present, cluster infections in Jilin province and many other places have been effectively contained. Shanghai has also achieved zero community transmission of COVID-19, and the resumption of work and production is progressing in an orderly manner. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in China has seen a fluctuating downward trend. The practices have proved that the dynamic zero-COVID policy respects science, reflects the objective laws and has obvious effects, which is a valuable experience.

The dynamic zero-COVID policy chooses the best solution. The approach can be coordinated with economic development, and normal production and life. They are both the primary objectives of the dynamic zero-COVID approach. It should be admitted that some of the measures adopted to fight the virus will cause temporary inconvenience in daily life and affect social and economic activities temporarily. However, it is the pandemic dragging down the economy. Only when the pandemic is brought under control can we create favorable conditions for people’s everyday life and work. China is the only major economy to report economic growth for 2020. In 2021, China’s GDP grew 8.1 percent year-on-year, with a two-year average of 5.1 percent, among the fastest in major economies in the world. In the first quarter of this year, China’s GDP expanded by 4.8 percent year-on-year. These statistics show that the dynamic zero-COVID policy effectively coordinates pandemic control with social and economic development, and is able to realize the most effective containment with the most negligible costs and minimize the negative impact posed by the pandemic.

The dynamic zero-COVID policy protects basic human rights. The most essential and basic human rights of people are the rights to life and health, regardless of which country people live in or what system the country choose. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Bill of Human Rights set out the basic human rights and protect them. China has always been committed to putting protecting the people and human life above everything else, protects the health and safety of the people to the greatest extent possible, and has the lowest COVID-19 infection and fatality rate in the world. According to an analysis published by The Lancet in March, global estimates of excess deaths indicate 18.2 million people may have died because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the excess mortality rate estimated to be 120 deaths per 100,000 population globally, 179 for the US, and 0.6 for China. According to a new modeling study of Fudan University published in Nature Medicine on May 10, there will be a “tsunami” of coronavirus infections within 6 months if China drops the dynamic zero-COVID policy, and the spread of Omicron could lead to 112.2 million symptomatic cases, 2.7 million intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, nationwide exhaustion of medical resources, a running out of ICU beds, and around 1.55 million deaths.

The dynamic zero-COVID policy suits China’s national conditions. Different countries have different national conditions, and adopt different epidemic prevention policies. There is no static “universal template” for containing COVID-19. China is a big country with a population of 1.4 billion people, including 267 million aged 60 and above and more than 250 million children, with considerable regional differences, inadequate medical resources, imperfect immune barrier in the population, etc. At present, although the Omicron variant is less pathogenic than other variants, however it is not a “big flu”, and will pose a grim threat to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and those with severe underlying diseases. Once China drops the dynamic zero-COVID policy, the public health risks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be incalculable, and will also cause serious impact on economic and social development. The approach of the dynamic zero COVID policy suits China’s national conditions, and is the best option for China to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in a timely manner at this stage.

At present, the global pandemic is still rampaging, new COVID variants continue to develop, and the risks and threats posed by COVID-19 still exist. China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy not only creates a healthy, safe, and stable environment for its own development, but also effectively avoids the spillover of the pandemic to other countries, ensures the security of the global industrial supply chain, and maintains the stability of the world economy. In China, we have the conditions and the capability to achieve dynamic zero-COVID and make greater contributions to promoting global solidarity against the virus.