Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, assured the Global Times newspaper that this approach will be maintained as it is the best way to prevent large-scale transmission and the outbreak of an epidemic, since vaccines alone do not stop the pathology.

He expressed reservations about the theories that foresee the end of the Covid-19 pandemic when 70 percent of the world population is immunized, especially due to the impact of the Omicron variant of the virus in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, all of which have high vaccination rates.

Wu drew attention to the emergence of mutations capable of bypassing immunity and cemented his argument with the number cases recently reported in the Tianjin municipality, where a large part of the inhabitants were vaccinated.

He also mentioned the good results of China’s policy, as it guarantees the reactivation of socioeconomic life and having a much lower number of infections and deaths since the worldwide emergence of Covid-19 and SARS-CoV-2 two years ago.

China’s Covid-19 zero tolerance strategy includes the requirement of several PCR tests for international travelers, mandatory quarantine, permanent monitoring of temperatures in public places and the immediate confinement of communities in the presence of any contagion.

The mechanism is currently in force at the bubble activated for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games and the Government reinforced it by coinciding with the Lunar New Year holidays, which are synonymous with large population movements, although many regions discouraged travel.

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