Chinese authorities further optimize anti-COVID response

BEIJING -- Navigating a complex anti-epidemic situation, relevant authorities across China have invested further efforts to optimize their COVID-19 response in this regard.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has put people and their lives above all else, worked to prevent both imported cases and domestic resurgences, and tenaciously pursued a dynamic zero-COVID policy.

As a result of the country's anti-epidemic endeavor, people's health and safety have been protected to the greatest extent possible, and notable achievements have been made in coordinating the COVID-19 response with economic and social development.

But COVID-19 control in China still faces a complex situation, with a notable resurgence of regional outbreaks and cluster infections reported in several cities.

Meanwhile, it has been observed that some regional authorities have adopted simplistic measures to contain the virus, such as implementing undifferentiated quarantine policies and expanding travel restrictions, Tuo Jia, an official with the national administration of disease prevention and control, told a press conference last week.

Such behavior constitutes pointless formalities and bureaucratism, and goes against the requirements of scientific and targeted epidemic control and coordinating the COVID-19 response with economic and social development, said Tuo.

To remedy the issue, the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19 has briefed on acts that took an oversimplified, one-size-fits-all approach or excessive measures in COVID-19 prevention and control.

It also urged efforts to strictly follow the ninth edition of the country's COVID-19 control protocols, to make the epidemic response more science-based and targeted, and to effectively guarantee a normal order in people's work and life.

Per the requirements, localities nationwide have taken targeted steps to remedy such issues. For instance, the local authority of Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, ordered a more precise designation of restrictive control areas within residential compounds so as to avert excessive epidemic response.

Municipalities, including Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Daqing in Heilongjiang Province, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, and Beijing, also took well-calibrated measures, ranging from the dynamic assessment of epidemic status, risks, and the adjustment of travel protocols, to targeted management for key groups and venues.

Thanks to concerted anti-epidemic endeavor nationwide, the spread of the epidemic is generally under control.

Faced with the current risks posed by the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese authorities continue to make the epidemic response more science-based and targeted, and strive to achieve the best results in epidemic control with minimum costs, and minimize the epidemic's impact on economic and social development.