Chinese epidemiologist, lawmaker advises on COVID-19 prevention, control

BEIJING -- Zhang Boli, a Chinese epidemiologist and academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has prepared sufficient suggestions for this year's "two sessions."

The two sessions are the country's annual meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the national political advisory body. The gatherings are major events on China's political calendar as the national agenda will be set for the year.

As an NPC deputy, Zhang said he was "very busy" last year. Zhang participated in multiple remote consultations and discussions to help local authorities and medical workers combat the COVID-19 resurgence in China's Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Guangxi and other areas in 2021.

He also conducted relevant legislative research in the field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as the treatment solutions inspired by TCM have proven to be effective in curing COVID-19 patients.

In January, north China's Tianjin Municipality became the first Chinese city to encounter an Omicron spread on a large scale. Zhang said that, judging from the characteristics of the Omicron variant, its infectiousness is indeed very strong while the incubation period is shorter compared with some other previous variants. However, the symptoms of the patients infected with the Omicron variant are relatively mild and the proportion of severe cases is lower.

The use of TCM in early intervention and the whole medical treatment process have proven effective in prevention, treatment and recovery from the disease, said Zhang based on his experience in curbing the COVID-19 spread in Tianjin.

"We dispatched a medical team of pediatric experts to treat patients together with practitioners of Western medicine. The effect of the joint treatment was good and the child patients recovered quickly," Zhang recalled.

In terms of recovery, Zhang added that though the nucleic acid testing results of some patients have turned negative, they are still regarded as not fully recovered. There may still be some inflammation in their lungs and their immune function is still suffering from disorders, Zhang explained.

He has formulated an integrated treatment and rehabilitation plan with joint efforts and support from other medical experts. After the patients test negative for the virus, they can be directly transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for further comprehensive rehabilitation, according to Zhang.

Since the global outbreak of the pandemic, Zhang has put forward a series of proposals in terms of epidemic prevention and control as well as vigorously developing TCM, many of which have been adopted.

"As an NPC deputy, it is my duty to put forward relevant concerns and suggestions to promote China's economic and social development. I feel very happy and have a sense of accomplishment to have made my own contributions to China's legislation and policy making," Zhang said.

This year, Zhang plans to continue his in-depth research and field trips. "The research can help me a lot in getting first-hand information, understanding the grassroots situations, the difficulties encountered by the industry and the bottlenecks of grassroots medical reform."

Zhang suggested that more efforts should be made to take precise and targeted prevention measures, such as accurately delineating different risk areas and implementing quarantine more strictly while minimizing the possible impact on the daily life of other residents.

He hailed China's firm implementation of its dynamic zero-COVID approach as the country has always put the safety and lives of its people on the top of its agenda. Zhang believes that China should also closely observe the global trend of the pandemic outbreak, conduct careful research and judgment on the variation, prevalence and toxicity of the virus, and then make policy adjustments cautiously and prudently.

"I hope that our government can comprehensively summarize our experience, achievements and shortcomings in fighting the epidemic over the past two years, and supplement and perfect its successful experience into the existing laws, regulations, policies and mechanisms so as to benefit future disease prevention and control," Zhang said.