By: Mohamed Jalloh
When Covid-19 struck China in late December 2019, doomsayers predicted an apocalyptic plague that would bring the country to her knees. But, they were proven wrong.
As part of the effective strategies to combat the disease, Wuhan the epicenter at the time was completely locked down. A health emergency was activated.
Health officials were mobilized and facilities knitted together in the shortest possible time. China`s swiftness in stamping out the disease was hero-worshiped across the world.
Countries that were complaisant in replicating the robust anti Covid-19 policy of China had to bury thousands if not millions of their citizens.
Aside of incurring the wrath of Covid-19 in human cost, countries that dubbed the virus as “Chinese virus” are yet to recover from the economic debacle wrought by the disease.
As the virus intensifies in wrecking multi sectoral havoc across the world, China displayed generosity in ensuring vaccine equity in developing countries such as Sierra Leone.
Millions of doses of the Sinopharm vaccine were distributed to non-vaccine producing countries.
At the time, World Health Organization was shaming some powerful western countries for what it described as vaccine apartheid. The unparalleled display of international brotherhood by China proved her as reliable partner. Apart from vaccine donations, China gave other forms of health paraphernalia such as beds and kits to her partners.
Being a recrudescence disease, the Omicron variant has resurfaced in the Chinese mainland and
China will firmly adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID policy as it battles the resurgence of the Omicron variant.
With Xi Xinping, the country`s president as the driving force, China believes that her efforts will guarantee success.
Conforming to the national conditions, the policy has taken a scientific approach and proven effective in containing clusters of infections within few weeks in cities such as Nanjing, Tianjin and Xi’an over the past two years.
East China’s metropolis Shanghai, with a population of 25 million, has now become a major battleground against the virus. Cases are spiraling upwards in the megacity reported over since the start of March. It has employed a temporary closed-off management strategy for days with rounds of citywide nucleic acid testing. This ambitious approach has been possible thanks to the aid of more than 38,000 medical workers from across the country. Its neighboring provinces have also provided extra quarantine spaces.
Two major concerns of the Omicron variant are the rate of transmission and the symptoms that are harder to detect. But it cannot be treated as a wide-spread case of the common flu. Its threat to human beings, especially those with underlying health issues, should not be overlooked. This is evident from the increasing death toll worldwide.
China’s dynamic zero-COVID approach uses rapid, resolute and strict measures to minimize the impact of the epidemic and the number of infections, severe cases and deaths. Ultimately, it aims to bring the epidemic under control in the shortest possible time.
It is the dynamic zero-COVID policy that is behind the fact that the number of China’s COVID-19 infections, patients, serious cases and deaths has remained at low levels. It helped the country safely host the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games early this year.
It is also a key reason why China has done better than most countries in both economic development and COVID-19 containment.
Effective epidemic control has also enabled the country to help stabilize the global industrial chains and supply chains. Amidst the global economic pressures and uncertainty created by Covid-19, China has continued with her belt and road initiate and further remains steadfast and committed in fulfilling bilateral and multilateral obligation.
China’s hardline approach to eliminating COVID-19 seems to be softening.
In his speech, Xi also flagged a more pragmatic strategy, asking that officials limit the economic impact of control measures. In practice, this means that people with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 are being sent to dedicated isolation centers rather than hospitals, and are monitored for shorter periods than previously required
“They’ve demonstrated time and time again that they can control outbreaks,” says epidemiologist Ben Cowling at the University of Hong Kong. The country successfully controlled the hyper-transmissible Omicron variant during the Beijing winter Olympics in February, despite predictions that large outbreaks would occur, he says. He anticipates that the aggressive testing efforts under way will see case numbers continue to rise over the next few days, but that numbers will fall back to zero after that. Work by Cowling and his colleagues yet to be peer reviewed indicates that the Sinovac vaccine, one of the two main vaccines used in China, is effective at reducing severe cases and deaths. But that the third shot is necessary to confer high levels of protection in those aged over 60years.
Scientists have found in a study that China’s oral COVID-19 nucleoside drug VV116 can shorten the viral shedding time by two to three days in the treatment of patients infected with the Omicron variant of the virus.
The researchers from Fudan University conducted an open, prospective cohort study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of VV116 in 136 patients hospitalized with the Omicron variant from March 8 to 24.
Among the participants who received standard treatment, 60 patients received VV116 and 76 patients did not, according to the study published on Wednesday in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections.
The researchers found that those in the treatment group, who received VV116 within 5 days of their first positive test, had an average viral shedding time of 8.56 days, while those in the control group had an average time of 11.13 days, according to the study.
It also reported a total of nine mild adverse events in the VV116 group, seven of which were mild liver function abnormalities. All events were resolved without intervention.
VV116 is a safe, effective oral antiviral drug, showing an improved performance during the early onset of Omicron infection, the researchers said.
Therefore, with her unswerving implementation of the dynamic zero-COVID approach, China, as a responsible country, has the resolve, experience, and capacity to soon bring the latest resurgences under control and maintain strong economic growth.
It will not be long before Chinese citizens affected by the virus can enjoy warm sunshine in spring days as things get back to normal.
