Expert sets record straight on policy

Special: Battle Against Novel Coronavirus

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, took to social media on Monday to clarify four common misconceptions about the dynamic zero-COVID policy.

Dynamic zero-COVID policy does not mean having no cases of infection

The dynamic zero-COVID policy means stamping out an outbreak whenever it occurs, and within a relatively short time frame so that it won't lead to community spread. It does not mean the whole country has no cases of infection.

Under the dynamic zero-COVID policy, so long as there is no community spread, it is acceptable for cases to exist in quarantine because they are temporarily isolated from the community. For example, an area may report over 200 cases in a day, but if all of those people are in quarantine facilities, there are no transmissions at the community level, which is a prerequisite for achieving dynamic clearance.

Dynamic zero-COVID policy does not always require mass testing

So long as the outbreak is detected early and has a clear chain of transmission, allowing experts to find all the close contacts, there is no need for mass testing. Mass testing is used when a wide-scale community spread has unclear chains of transmission.

Dynamic zero-COVID policy does not mean citywide lockdown

Dynamic clearance measures change according to the situation. If an outbreak is detected early, health workers only need to quarantine and treat the patients, while keeping an eye on the close contacts of those under quarantine.

In the past two years, Shanghai encountered 12 outbreaks, which it successfully quelled without resorting to lockdowns.

Lockdown measures are used in cases of wide-scale community spread.

Dynamic zero-COVID policy safeguards overall economic development

If an outbreak is detected and controlled early, dynamic clearance strategy will have a negligible impact on the economy. However, if the outbreak gains momentum, leading to mass testing and lockdown measures, the policy will have a certain impact on the economy. Generally speaking, however, the policy safeguards the overall development of the economy.