The National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China reported just eight new local cases yesterday.
The latest COVID-19 resurgence started on 17 October, sparking a total of 1,327 locally transmitted cases to date, according to state media Global Times. Of these, most were in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang (277) and Liaoning (275) provinces and North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (187).
In a sharply pointed observation, Global Times wrote: “Analysts said China’s dynamic zero-case approach once again proved to be effective, forming a sharp contrast with the West, which still suffers from a severe rebound under its stubborn living-with-the-virus policy. It is also a slap in the face of foreign media outlets which have been dedicated to discrediting the effectiveness of China’s anti-epidemic policy.”
Wang Guangfa, a Beijing-based expert specialising in epidemiology, told Global Times that while Chinese cities and residents are gradually returning to normalcy under the guidance of the dynamic zero-case policy, residents and economies in the West are still suffering from rampant outbreaks. The West chose to treat COVID-19 in the same way as it treats influenza in sacrificing the lives of its own citizens, with an irresponsible manner and disdain for life, Wang claimed.
