Western narrative on China's COVID response hypocritical, to appease domestic audience
Global TimesDec 15, 2022
On Monday, Chinese authorities announced that, beginning Jan. 8, 2023, travelers will no longer need to quarantine upon arrival on the mainland, though a negative nucleic acid test from the last 48 hours will still be required.
China's National Health Commission added that COVID management will be formally downgraded to a Class B infectious disease from the current top-level Category A.
The world has much to learn from China’s COVID response, which allowed the mainland to halt its spread while the infection caused over 15M deaths worldwide. The PRC is doing its best to balance economic realities, public health, and societal pressures. Beijing's current strategic easing will safeguard both health and the economy.
Beijing's zero-COVID U-turn could prove lethal. The PRC's hermit strategy has left the population with little exposure or natural immunity, and the virus will undoubtedly run rampant as almost all restrictions are now lifted. Given China's low vaccination rate for the elderly, the government has inadvertently initiated a pandemic tsunami by downgrading the threat and allowing the virus to rip through the population.
There's a 4% chance that cumulative reported deaths from COVID in China will exceed 50K before 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.