Six fallacies and truths about China's epidemic control

The pathogenicity and virulence of the Omicron strain have weakened significantly, while China's medical treatment, pathogen detection and vaccination levels have all improved significantly -- which means that it is indeed scientific, timely and necessary to proactively optimize anti-epidemic measures. The policy adjustment is not equivalent to a laissez-faire attitude, instead, resources are invested in what are now more important areas, such as epidemic prevention and control and treatment of cases.

The elderly are the key population group being targeted by health services. During the battle in Wuhan in early 2020, medical workers cured more than 3,600 COVID-19 patients over the age of 80. In the past three years, a number of infected centenarians have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. Similar stories are still unfolding during this new wave of infections in China.

Tian, a 100-year-old woman from Hefei, Anhui Province, was diagnosed with novel coronavirus infection after she showed symptoms such as fever and coughing for three days, and was sent to the hospital by her family.

Her doctor said that fortunately, Tian had been vaccinated and showed no severe symptoms such as chest tightness and asthma, although she had some underlying health issues. After 11 days of treatment including anti-virus, anti-infection, improved immunity and nutritional support, she was discharged from the hospital.

China has managed to keep its COVID-19 severe cases and death rates among the lowest in the world. Deliberately distorting the adjustment of China's anti-COVID-19 policies highlights the double standard and hypocrisy of some in the West. If China's COVID-19 response failed, what about some countries where the death toll far exceeds that of China? In fact, the label of failure should be attached to those countries whose incompetence, inaction and chaos in epidemic response had caused their people to suffer.

Striving to effectively coordinate the epidemic response with economic and social development, China had won the tough battle against poverty on schedule and finished building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, getting off to a good start in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), and the average life expectancy of Chinese people increased from 77.3 years to 78.2 years.

Some Western media rarely reflect profoundly on the chaotic COVID-19 situations in their own countries. But when it comes to China, they always hold a stereotypical view and focus only on finding fault, which underlines their attempt to distort, exaggerate and fabricate.

"In fact, China has innovated control methods, improved them, and demonstrated their efficacy by saving millions of lives," said Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University. The professor noted that some countries look at China through a perverse lens: they fail to acknowledge the country's successes because they politicize everything about China ideologically.

FALLACY 3: "CHINA'S ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IS DIM"

China's optimized COVID-19 response has triggered a lot of ups and downs in terms of predicting the impact on the Chinese economy. A topsy-turvy time and a drag on global growth were among the typical labels foreign pessimists put on the future of the Chinese economy.

As a number of high-frequency data from the traffic volume to the urban mobility index reflect the country's accelerated recovery and industrial production, new concerns arise.

Some foreign naysayers, bothered by the "unfortunate side-effects" of China's recovery, even warned that China's reopening may burden the rest of the world, not with higher growth, but with higher levels of inflation or interest rates.

Bright or dim, what are the prospects of China's economic recovery looking like?

Over the past three years, China has effectively handled the impact of five rounds of global pandemic outbreaks.

Balancing its epidemic response and economic and social development, China not only emerged as the first major economy to return to growth, but also maintained an average annual growth rate of about 4.5 percent, significantly higher than the world average.

In 2022, China was expected to boost its GDP to over 120 trillion yuan (17.41 trillion U.S. dollars). Its grain output stayed above 650 million tonnes for the eighth consecutive year. In the first 11 months of last year, 1.16 trillion yuan of foreign investment went into the country, exceeding the level of 2021.

At the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference in December, Chinese leaders aimed to promote overall recovery and improvements in the country's economic performance this year.

From a global perspective, China's strengths are also clear. Its economy accounts for 18.5 percent of the world's total and serves as an important growth driver. Its foreign exchange reserves top the world, helping ensure the stability of its currency the yuan and financial security.