In Zhang Wenhong´s opinion, now it is not the time to debate whether it is better to opt to coexist with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, because the situation demonstrated that “society is not ready to face a great number of cases neither psychologically nor in terms of social resources distribution.”

He called to preserve the zero-Covid-19 tolerance policy to stop the spread of the Omicron variant, but he also made reference to avoid the constant confinement of entire cities and mass health checks.

Zhang suggested initiatives such as to expand vaccination, mainly among the elderly and children, make oral drugs more available, reduce the cost of PCR tests, allow to do them at home, and optimize the health care system, among others.

However, he stressed that it is not the time to rapidly open the country´s borders because it will lead to a wave of infections, hospitals would collapse and the economy would suffer.

China experiences the most severe Covid-19 outbreak in several provinces, this Monday 2,343 new cases were reported and the most affected cities are Jilin, Shandong, Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing.

This weekend, Chinese Prime Minister Sun Chunlan urged to double efforts and control the outbreaks in the shortest possible time.

Overall, China´s deaths due to Covid-19 amounts at least to 9,482 and the number is cases is 514,820 in its mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan since the disease´s outbreak on December 2019.

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