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Review
. 2023 Nov 22:36:102466.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102466. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Reflections on the dynamic zero-COVID policy in China

Zaihua Ba  1 , Yuqi Li  1 , Jiao Ma  1 , Yining Qin  1 , Jinzhu Tian  1 , Yixiang Meng  1 , Jiarong Yi  1 , Yingze Zhang  1 , Fei Chen  1
Affiliations
Review

Reflections on the dynamic zero-COVID policy in China

Zaihua Ba et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a serious threat to global healthcare and economy. In order to curb its spread, China adopted the dynamic zero-COVID policy, aiming to diagnose and isolate cases and close contacts as soon as possible. However, there is a controversy about the impact of isolation measures on social order, including the economy, personal employment and public mental health. Therefore, this review discusses and analyzes in detail the advantages and challenges of implementing dynamic zero-COVID policy. Although this public health policy might cause a shock to the economy in the short term, China still achieved a continued healthy economic performance with stable unemployment and strong export growth. Moreover, the rates of infection and mortality in China were lower than those in the United States and the European Union. However, due to the high transmissibility and low pathogenicity of the Omicron variant and prolonged lockdown-induced psychological damage, people questioned the effectiveness and necessity of this policy. Now that China has adjusted its policy in a timely manner, but many problems still remain unsolved. Some practical suggestions in terms of mental health, vaccine development, drugs supply, and economic recovery are put forward at the end of our paper to minimize negative impacts and provide a reference for future efforts.

Keywords: COVID-19; China; Dynamic zero-COVID policy; Lockdown; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in the United States, European Union and China Source: Johns Hopkins University CSSE COVID-19 Data.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people in the United States, European Union and China Source: Johns Hopkins University CSSE COVID-19 Data.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in United States, European Union and China Source: Johns Hopkins University CSSE COVID-19 Data.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people in United States, European Union and China Source: Johns Hopkins University CSSE COVID-19 Data.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, Qingdao and Shenzhen from 1 March to 5 April 2022 Source: National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Quarterly Gross Domestic Product of United States, European Union and China, 2018–2023 Source: China National Bureau of Statistics, Eurostat and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
The monthly unemployment rate for United States, European Union and China, 2019–2023 Source: China National Bureau of Statistics, Eurostat and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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