Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Photo:VCG

There is only a “trifling possibility” that a new wave of COVID-19 epidemic infections will emerge in the coming months in China, as the population’s immune protection remains at a high level, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), said at Thursday’s press briefing.
 
China has just experienced a national epidemic of COVID-19 infections, and most people have recovered, while some are still recovering, said Wu. It’s also less likely that another large-scale epidemic like this one will emerge in the future, with the optimization of prevention and control strategies, Wu noted.

Since China started managing COVID-19 with measures designed for combating Class B  instead of Class A infectious diseases on January 8, the optimized measures against the epidemic remain effective for timely detection and effective control of the epidemic, said Wu.

In the past three years, in response to the constantly changing situation of the epidemic, China has issued 10 editions of COVID-19 control protocols, and avoided the large-scale spreading of the original strain and Delta strain with strong pathogenicity, reducing deaths and severe illness from COVID-19, according to Wu.

Compared with three years ago, the pathogenicity of the Omicron strain has significantly weakened. We have more knowledge of the virus and have more types of antiviral drugs as well as more experience in treating COVID-19 with traditional Chinese medicine  and Western medicine, Wu noted.