How Shanghai Successfully Win the Fight Against the Covid-19 Pandemic
The importance of China's dynamic clearing policy
What is dynamic clearing?
Dynamic clearing policy means stamping out an outbreak whenever it occurs and doing so in a relatively short time frame so it won't lead to community spread. It does not mean the whole country has no infected cases.
Why China sticks to the dynamic clearing policy?
1.Putting people first
China's dynamic clearing approach is characterized by its adherence to the principle of "people and life first".
The number of deaths attributable to the Omicron variant of the virus is more than those caused by the Delta variant. The WHO has rightly called the death toll "beyond tragic".
Even though the mortality rate of the Omicron variant is lower than that of the Delta variant, the Omicron strain is more contagious. This means a larger base of infections if its transmission is not curbed, and overall deaths will be more than those caused by the Delta variant, particularly among the elderly who have not been vaccinated.
With the largest senior population in the world and a sizable number of people with chronic underlying diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, China's public health system would face unbearable pressure from a nationwide outbreak of the virus.
China is making the most of what it has and its institutional strengths to save people's lives, guarantee their livelihoods and keep the country on its charted course.
2. A scientific approach
The dynamic clearing policy China has adopted is a scientific approach to fighting the novel coronavirus in line with its national conditions.
It is wrong to consider the Omicron variant of the virus as no worse than the virus that causes the common flu.
It is irresponsible for some politicians to compare infections of the Omicron variant to a "flu" because it is not supported by any scientific evidence. They do so out of a cynical need to cover up their failure in responding to it.
No mainstream health experts have argued Omicron should be regarded as just another flu. It is mainly politicians in countries where the pandemic spread out of control who are doing that.
3.A timely strategy
Dynamic clearance measures change in accordance with the situation. If an outbreak is detected early, health workers only need to quarantine and treat patients while keeping an eye on quarantined close contacts.
Under the policy, so long as there is no community spread it is acceptable for cases to exist in quarantine because they are temporarily isolated.
In such a way, the spread of the virus can be kept at bay to avoid the large number of deaths the virus would otherwise cause among the aged or those with chronic diseases.
4.Supporting the global economy
The dynamic clearing policy has so far proved successful in striking a delicate balance between maintaining economic and social development and controlling the spread of the virus.
It is this policy that has made it possible for China to control the virus most rapidly, enabling it to resume its economic activities and keep transmission of the virus localized whenever a cluster of infections appears.
Thanks to the policy, China became the only major economy to achieve positive growth in 2020, and the growth momentum continued last year with an 8.1 percent expansion.
In particular, its total imports and exports for 2021 reached a new level, exceeding $6 trillion for the first time.
This has enabled China to continue to serve as the bedrock of the global supply chain, ensuring everything from iPhones and Teslas to fertilizer and car parts continues to flow to the rest of the world.
An unfinished mission
What China has done in the last two years to cut the transmission chains of the virus immediately after clusters of infections are identified has made it possible for the policy to be implemented without serious nationwide disruption of normal economic activities.
There is also much work that needs to be done to increase vaccination rates and accelerate the development of vaccines and medicines so the country can seize the initiative in its fight against the virus.
Above all cooperation by strictly following control and prevention measures is an important requirement for the policy to work.
Dynamic clearing is both scientific and effective
In recent days, the COVID-19 epidemic in China has shown a downward trend on the whole. The number of new novel coronavirus infections in Shanghai has declined steadily, and more than 4,400 enterprises of over 9,000 in the city have resumed production. The epidemic prevention and control work in Jilin province is in the mop-up stage. And the epidemic situations in Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provincial-level regions is gradually stabilizing as well.
This is in sharp contrast with the situation in countries that have chosen to co-exist with the virus, and proves the effectiveness and the scientific nature of China's dynamic clearing policy.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, China has accumulated experience in dealing with Covid-19 pandemic. The country has developed a set of effective measures in emergency response, medical treatment, screening and tracing, public participation and prevention and control mechanisms, which have contained the dangerous momentum of its spread.
Before more scientific and effective prevention and control measures appear, China will continue to adhere to its tried-and-tested virus control measures to protect the safety and health of residents as best as it can.
China's prevention and control policies have been constantly adjusted in light of the changes in the actual situation. And after battling with the virus over the past two years, the efficiency of the country's response to it has improved significantly.
The dynamic clearing policy is not an isolated and rigid practice but a complex system of operation with the protection of people's lives and the maintaining of economic stability as the priorities. To make it work, the government, medical care system and society have to work together.
The effective virus control policy has created a stable and safe development environment for the economy. In the first quarter of this year, China's gross domestic product increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the fourth quarter of last year. And it is believed that the economic growth rate will rebound quickly after this wave of the virus is brought under control.
The size of the population in China aged 65 and above is comparable to that of the European Union, the United States and Japan put together, while the medical care conditions in China remain underdeveloped as a whole compared with those in developed economies. So China cannot afford to ignore the virus as some developed countries do, and it must continue to adhere to the dynamic clearing policy and treat the fight against the virus each day as if it is their first encounter.
Officials urged to plan ahead for Omicron
Health commission calls for building of facilities to reduce burden on hospitals
The building of more makeshift hospitals across China is aimed at enabling mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases to be admitted promptly, so as to cut off the virus' transmission and prevent overburdening regular hospitals, a health official said on May 23.
The National Health Commission said recently that local governments should plan ahead to set up more designated hospitals, makeshift hospitals and centralized quarantine facilities.
Guo Yanhong, an official at the commission's Bureau of Medical Administration, said during a news briefing that makeshift hospitals refer to facilities that are equipped with essential infrastructure such as water and electricity, toilets, shower rooms, ventilation systems as well as medical and protective equipment.
Such sites can begin receiving patients within 24 hours after a new outbreak is detected, she said.
Guo said that setting up more makeshift hospitals is not a sign of worsening epidemic conditions.
"Rather, it is to adapt to the traits of Omicron, such as that it is highly contagious, spreads very quickly and the majority of infections are mild or asymptomatic," she said.
Because new infections will likely spike swiftly during an Omicron outbreak, Guo said, makeshift hospitals are vital to accommodating cases and relieving the strain on regular healthcare services.
In addition, Guo said makeshift hospitals can also play a significant role in tackling other contagious diseases or other large-scale health emergencies.
Guo stressed that China's virus control efforts should be rooted in preventing new cases via a set of measures such as mass testing and tracking and isolating close contacts. "Focusing on prevention is the most cost-effective approach," she said. "Only in this way can we reduce the incidence of COVID-19 disease, narrow the scale of affected areas and safeguard the health of the people."
As a number of major cities have begun establishing testing stands within a 15-minute walk, Guo said such arrangements mainly involve provincial capitals and cities with over 10 million people. "The frequency of testing should be based on local circumstances," she added.
In terms of international travel, Liu Haitao, head of the National Immigration Administration's Department of Frontier Inspection and Management, said that citizens are advised to not leave the country unless for essential or urgent reasons.
However, he added that local immigration authorities have been required to facilitate the demands of enterprises that need to resume operation, as well as those with plans to travel abroad to aid in the fight against the pandemic or deliver anti-virus materials.
Kong Fanwei, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's flight standards department, said that since China introduced a policy in June 2020 of suspending international flights when more than five passengers test positive, 727 suspension orders have been announced, bringing total flight cancellations to 1,679.
To prevent the virus' spread via cold-chain products, Li Zhengliang, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs' department of health quarantine, said it has halted imports from 170 foreign enterprises experiencing infection clusters among their employees.
Hard-won progress in fighting COVID-19 must not go to waste
China's megacity of Shanghai on May 17 announced that it has cut off the community transmission of COVID-19 in all its 16 districts.
This latest progress in containing the virus again shows that China must unswervingly implement its epidemic response policy and consolidate its gains in the fight against COVID-19.
The global fight against the pandemic is still ongoing, the novel coronavirus keeps mutating, and mounting uncertainties still lie ahead. This all points to the importance of keeping a clear head about the complex and arduous nature of the battle.
The policy of "preventing imported cases and domestic resurgences" and the dynamic zero-COVID approach must be firmly carried out.
Any tendency to let our guard down, become weary of the fight, take chances, and slacken efforts must be rejected. The hard-won progress China has made against the epidemic must not, under any circumstances, go to waste.
Nearly 15 million deaths globally were directly or indirectly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of 2021, according to the estimates of the World Health Organization.
As a developing country with a population of 1.4 billion, China has managed to stand out with the lowest coronavirus infection and fatality rates globally. This is a clear sign of the institutional strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
China has protected the health and safety of its people to the greatest extent possible while trying its best to minimize the epidemic's impact on development.
China's COVID-19 response measures are based on its national conditions.
It is a populous country with a large number of elderly people, unbalanced regional development, and generally inadequate medical resources. The gap still exists between China and developed countries in terms of the per capita medical resources and medical technology levels.
If China doesn't focus its strength and resources on preventive measures such as nucleic acid testing and isolation, a lot of pressure will be placed on the shoulders of the disease treatment circles. This would threaten the safety of patients with underlying medical conditions, the elderly, children and pregnant women, among others.
In this scenario, a large number of severe COVID-19 cases and deaths would occur and the steady economic and social development would be seriously undermined. China will never allow this to happen.
As long as the decisions and plans made by the central authorities are firmly implemented, the institutional strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics are given a full play, and the people are pooling their efforts, China will surely win the battle against COVID-19.
Improving mental health amid pandemic
The resurgence of the novel coronavirus has prompted authorities to restrict people's movement in many places. Many people in some provinces and cities, for instance, have been staying at home for some time now. The more than two years of the pandemic prevention and control measures have also had some psychological effects on the people, increasing the need for better mental health services.
Compared with the fear in the early days of the outbreak, people today see the virus more rationally thanks to the progress in research and vaccination. But the uncertainties around the virus and its impact on normal life have triggered widespread anxiety in society. That calls for ramping up mental health services, in order to help people develop a positive mindset.
In China, the fight to contain the pandemic has become a new normal. This fight is characterized by China's dynamic clearing policy, which adheres to the principle of "people first and life first". Contrary to the misconception of some, the objective of the dynamic clearing policy is not to pursue zero infections in the country. Instead, it requires a swift official response wherever infections are reported so that the outbreak can be controlled within a limited area as soon as possible. Only with this approach can China minimize the human cost of the pandemic.
Since the cause and speed of infections may vary from place to place, mental health service providers should be prepared to deal with all the problems. The strict health and safety protocols, including wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing, and working from home, which people have had to follow have, to a certain extent, changed people's thought process and behavior.
So, counseling and other mental health services have to change accordingly in order to deal with these new problems. And as the fight against the virus is expected to continue, mental health services should be available to as many people as possible.
The recent outbreak in Shanghai has aroused widespread concern. As Shanghai is one of China's biggest cosmopolitan cities, its residents are used to a certain lifestyle, which makes it a bit difficult for them to adjust to changes in face of emergencies. For instance, the daily routine of buying vegetables online and stockpiling food is costing people precious time and energy, especially for those who are used to buying fresh vegetables whenever they want.
Human attention is a very limited resource. People have to use a lot of willpower to change their habits in a short time, which anti-pandemic protocols demand. When a city's orderly life is disrupted, it triggers intense anxiety among individuals and causes tension in society. That partly explains why some Beijing residents rushed to stockpile vegetables and other essentials after the authorities announced to tighten measures despite supplies being restored very soon.
Other cities, especially those highly urbanized, can find some inspiration from Shanghai. A modern, sophisticated city life surely signifies social progress but it can also make it hard for people to adjust to changes in case of emergencies. So increasing cities' resilience against variables is necessary, which can be done by educating the public about mental health and providing proper mental health services.
Given the challenges the pandemic poses to mental health, it's necessary for individuals to develop self-regulation. Self-regulation is the ability to control inner states or responses with respect to thoughts, emotions, attention and performance, and is therefore a critical aspect of development and fundamental to personality and behavioral adjustment. In fact, research shows that self-regulation is necessary for emotional well-being.
As for cognitive self-regulation, it is about having the ability to focus attention, ignore distractions and switch one's focus of attention as needed, use memory, especially to keep several pieces of information in mind at the same time, having necessary logic skills including an understanding of cause and effect and the ability to plan a sequence of steps to accomplish a task or solve a problem, and understanding individual learning strengths and weaknesses, and knowing how to use the strengths to compensate for or improve on weaknesses.
The online world is a mix of truth and rumors. People staying at home who have almost nothing to do can fall easy prey to online rumors, leading to cognitive bias and depression. It is therefore necessary that people improve their digital literacy by using cognitive self-regulation, so they can see things from different perspectives and focus on the positives in real life.
Social life is important for human beings. Self-isolation at home has prevented many people from interacting face-to-face with others and thus affected their mental health. Such people should make good use of communication tools to enhance interpersonal interaction and work out a usual bedtime routine, so as to control their emotions and have peace of mind.
Long-time quarantine can create a series of problems that people have never encountered before. And it is necessary to identify a problem before addressing it. For example, the parents-children conflict over students taking online classes at home is about family education and cooperation on home-schooling. Therefore, meticulous planning, including setting goals and making best use of time, is needed to make online classes effective.
The pandemic prevention and control measures can be seen as a test for mental endurance. By taking advantage of the challenge, we can turn a crisis into an opportunity which will enable both cities and individuals to better deal with their problems in the future.
Unified health code can bring more convenience, efficiency
Innovative digital tools including health codes and itinerary codes have played a key role in China's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing repeated cluster outbreaks, China has used these digital tools as part of its prevention and control measures over the past more than two years to achieve the best results at minimum cost. And they may prove their worth once again during the Tomb Sweeping Day and May Day holidays when millions of people are expected to travel across the country.
But since the health codes developed by different provinces and cities are not coordinated or compatible, they could obstruct the flow of people within the country. As such, cross-regional, cross-tier and cross-departmental coordination should be strengthened to synergize the digital anti-pandemic prevention and control apps.
First, there is a need to improve the applicability and management of the digital anti-pandemic tools across the country. Since each province has its own health code, as do some cities in the provinces, and infection prevention and control mechanism, cross-regional flow of people is affected to a certain extent.
For example, at airports, railway stations and other transportation hubs, visitors are often stranded, waiting to scan the health codes with their smartphones and apply to get the local health code. And although the central government service platform launched the "epidemic prevention health information code" in February 2020, it has not been widely used as a "travel permit".
So the applicability and management of health codes based on prefectures and cities should be gradually unified by the provincial authorities, and eventually the central government. The provinces should also integrate the prefecture- and municipal-level health code platforms and ensure that one province (or autonomous region or municipality) has only one health code.
There is also a need to establish a mutual recognition and communication mechanism within urban agglomerations and metropolitan circles where the flow of people is relatively high. As for the central government, it should adhere to unified deployment, standardization and management of digital apps at the national level, and develop a common country-wide health code.
Second, the coordination of rules and information sharing of digital anti-pandemic tools should be strengthened by, for example, building a health code management and service system at the national and provincial levels, and clarifying the rules for code assignment and trans-coding. For instance, due to different "change code" management rules, the color of the health code of the same person can be different in different places at the same time.
Unfortunately, some local authorities have failed to effectively implement prevention and control measures, because they presumptuously assigned "red codes" to everyone in a city with confirmed cases and refused to recognize other cities' health codes.
So it's high time local health authorities and people started adhering to the national integrated government service platform's norms, strengthened the provincial-level platforms, and improved cross-departmental information, so as to lay a solid foundation for coordinating anti-pandemic measures.
At present, local health codes are managed by different departments. For example, Guangzhou's "Suikang Code" is managed by the Guangzhou health commission, Beijing's "Jiankangbao" by the Beijing economic and information technology bureau, and Shanghai's "Suishen Code" by the Shanghai big data center. The different departmental management systems and insufficient inter-departmental coordination are more likely to create data barriers and information-isolated islands.
And third, the coordination and integration of digital anti-pandemic tools is a necessity, as some apps such as itinerary and health-check codes have been superimposed on the health code, with some places adding manual registration measures to it.
Besides, in the hope of better managing the health codes, some departments have created blank codes (unknown circumstances), purple/orange codes (in areas with confirmed cases, people have to undergo multiple rounds of nucleic acid testing to turn the code green), and gold codes (vaccinated). These tools add to the burden of repeated verification on the public, increase the risk of infection because of long queues and large gatherings at testing sites, and obstruct people's flow.
Health and travel codes should be combined to provide "one code" access to the public. For example, the Ningbo health commission launched the "Pass on Code" application, which displays both itinerary code and health code on one screen for the convenience of residents.
Moreover, the digital anti-pandemic tools should be made more inclusive to facilitate the movement of special groups such as senior citizens and minors. For example, improving the tools' functions to allow an individual to manage the health codes of relatives and friends, and to make one person's code binding for multiple people will meet the travel needs of people who do not or cannot use smartphones.
Chinese banks defer mortgage payments due to resurgence of Covid-19
Major Chinese banks allowed clients in some cities and provinces hard-hit by COVID-19 to delay their mortgage payments to assist clients with payment difficulties at a crucial moment in the fight against the pandemic.
Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd, a large State-owned commercial lender, allowed four types of clients to delay mortgage payments for up to six months. They are clients who are hospitalized after being infected with COVID-19 or housed in isolation facilities, those taking part in the prevention and control of the pandemic, those who are put under quarantine and medical observation due to disease prevention, those and who temporarily lose their sources of income due to the pandemic.
PSBC will help those clients adjust to COVID-19-related late payment records on their credit reports to protect their credit.
Bank of Communications Co Ltd recently launched a set of measures to support Shanghai to win the battle against COVID-19. The Shanghai-based large State-owned commercial lender has allowed mortgage payment deferrals for up to three months for medical workers and government employees participating in the prevention and control of the pandemic, confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients, people housed in isolation and quarantine facilities, and their spouses.
The Jilin branch of Bank of China Ltd, another large State-owned commercial lender, has allowed clients in Jilin province who meet the bank's criteria to delay mortgage payments for a maximum of three months. As Jilin has been hit hard by the COVID-19 resurgence, the branch said it will give the nod to further deferrals appropriately if the pandemic lasts longer.
BOC's Shanghai branch said mortgage borrowers are allowed to raise objections to late payment records on their credit reports caused by the pandemic and ask the bank to make corrections accordingly.
Other large State-owned commercial banks also announced measures to temporarily relieve clients of the pressure they face on mortgage payments. Some national joint-stock commercial lenders, such as China Zheshang Bank Co Ltd based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, even allowed personal clients to defer consumer loan and credit card payments, in addition to mortgage payments.
As of the end of 2021, the balance of individual mortgages in China was 38.32 trillion yuan ($6 trillion), up 11.3 percent year-on-year, according to the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.
Non-performing loan ratios for mortgages of large State-owned commercial banks and several A-share listed national joint-stock commercial banks, which had announced their 2021 annual results by April 14, were lower than 0.5 percent at the end of last year. The figures were well below the NPL ratio of commercial banks in China at the end of the fourth quarter, which stood at 1.73 percent.
China achieves better results in Covid-19 containment
The news of the lockdown in Shanghai in April brings back many memories of my time in China's largest city and leading financial centre. I lived there for many years and was still there when COVID-19 was detected in Wuhan and had left for London just before the Spring Festival in 2020.
It was already clear in early 2020 from China that strong measures would be needed to contain the virus and I saw encouraging data on the very low numbers of death toll thanks to all the measures China was then taking. When I arrived in London, flights from China were still operating, but soon they were suspended. It took a while for London to implement health policies to protect its people against the virus.
As the virus spread in London, my communications changed from worrying how friends in Shanghai were getting on to those friends worrying how things were in London as lockdown began in the UK. These continued in various forms in 2020 and 2021 and there were important lessons to be learned from the successful policies followed in China. But the approach in London was different and has remained so when in contrast with the zero tolerance policies that are in effect in Shanghai now.
Different from older style living communities and very modern high-rise apartment complexes in Shanghai, London houses and flats are a short distance to the street where there was no enforcement to stay at home. Instead, advice was given to vulnerable groups - such as the over 70s and those with compromised immune systems - to stay home. Others could exercise for limited periods outdoors and go to shop at essential stores that remained open while many other shops including clothes shops, electronics and household furnishings closed. Working from home was expected except for essential services. Studying at home was also expected as school and universities close their doors. Home delivery services soared.
Londoners experienced some lockdown where all cafes, restaurants and pubs were closed; other lockdown where takeaway services were allowed; and other periods in which sitting in outdoor areas of the venue were allowed. The government tried to minimize the length of restrictions guided by the number of COVID cases, amount of hospital admissions and amount of deaths. Essentially, a key goal was to protect hospitals from being overwhelmed.
London had no policy of quarantining in group facilities those who tested positive for COVID–19. Instead, the policy was to self-isolate at home to prevent spread and only admit patients who had serious cases - like the popup hospitals erected in China, a few Nightingale temporary hospitals were set up named after the famous nurse, Florence Nightingale. The only use of quarantine in groups was for international arrivals from designated countries, but it was a policy that did not last long.
Shanghai is around three times bigger than London and more densely populated. The Omicron variant can spread much more quickly in those circumstances. Such a crowded city makes it difficult for people who have COVID but are unaware because they are not displaying any symptoms to voluntarily self-isolate.
As a metropolis of 25 million people, Shanghai's population also is 36 percent aged 60 or older. Among this group, 62 percent of people had completed two-doses of vaccination, but only 38 percent had received a booster shot, which is not yet sufficient to fend off the virus' risk. If the spread is left unchecked there might be an unbearable death toll for the elderly people, particularly those with chronic underlying diseases. It is essential to do mass testing quickly and ensure the isolation of those found infected. This is the best chance to contain and eliminate the virus relatively quickly. If not, the virus could spread to many other parts of China with severe economic and health impacts.
China's strict policies led to few deaths and to the reopening of economic activity rapidly whilst the UK endured a longer period of depressed economic activity which needed support for large numbers of furloughed workers by the government until October 2021. Sadly, the UK saw high levels of COVID-related deaths and an additional unexpected health impact that waiting lists for medical treatments and operations have grown to record levels. There will be a formal enquiry into the UK government’s handling of the COVID pandemic at some point, but they have already faced accusations of failing to act quickly enough while simultaneously earning praise for the extensive vaccination program which ultimately allowed the removal of restrictions.
It is difficult to draw comparisons between different culture, but the impact of various types of lockdown with levels of severity are not necessarily as effective as a mass lockdown with mass testing and quarantines. A mass lockdown may produce unique challenges to locals, but can be quickly relaxed once the outbreak is suppressed. I feel confident that my friends in Shanghai will see a return to normalcy quickly under China's zero-tolerance COVID policies.
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