Health official affirms dynamic zero-COVID strategy

China is capable of continuing to implement the dynamic zero-COVID strategy, which has been adopted as the nation views people's lives as the top priority, a senior health expert said on Thursday.

Liang Wannian, a member of the National Health Commission's COVID-19 control expert panel, said the country's sporadic outbreaks are mainly due to imported cases, so as long as it can swiftly locate imported infections it can realize dynamic zero-COVID.

Moreover, the country has other advantages including its strong mobilizing capability, the altruism and collectivism of Chinese people and good use of technology, he said at a news conference.

"We need to stick to the dynamic zero-COVID strategy to conquer the epidemic and achieve the final victory with the least amount of deaths."

While many countries have changed their epidemic control measures to focusing on preventing critical patients, deaths and taking up too many medical resources, the adjustments have led to large-scale outbreaks and deaths in the United States and Japan, he said.

If China were to follow their lead and adopt a "lie flat" strategy, there would be a large number of infections, critically ill patients and deaths, which contradicts Chinese culture and the principles of epidemic prevention, he added.