Too early to label Omicron infections as "big flu:" leading Chinese expert

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- It is too early to label Omicron variant infections as "big flu," a leading Chinese epidemiologist told Xinhua in the latest interview.

For individuals, the risk of severe symptoms caused by Omicron may decrease, but the virus spreads quickly, said Liang Wannian, head of the COVID-19 response expert panel under China's National Health Commission (NHC).

"If there is a large absolute number of people infected, the number of severe cases and deaths in the population as a whole will be high, which can still inflict great harm," he noted.

Liang stressed that the essence of China's dynamic zero-COVID approach is a swift response and targeted response measures.

"Once an outbreak is detected, we have a range of ways to nip it in the bud," he said. "The key lies in ensuring its early detection and disposal."

Liang warned against any slackness, hesitation, or the mentality of taking chances in the anti-COVID fight, saying that the virus can spread exponentially if it had not been detected in a timely manner or intervened immediately.

The dynamic zero-COVID approach, the Chinese public health policy that has been implemented to fight the coronavirus over the past two years, has proved to be effective in striking a good balance between epidemic prevention and control, economic, and social development, according to Liang.

The goal of this approach is to bring the epidemic under control in the shortest possible time with a minimum cost to society.

"If we do not pursue dynamic elimination of each sporadic outbreak, it will eventually evolve into a large-scale resurgence," he noted.

China has experienced a resurgence of COVID-19 since March with some provinces seeing a rapidly rising number of infections.

From March 1 to 18, more than 29,000 local infections were reported in 28 provincial-level regions across the Chinese mainland. More than 95 percent of COVID-19 patients in the latest outbreak have been mild or asymptomatic cases, NHC data showed.

The Chinese mainland on Sunday reported 1,947 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 2,384 new local asymptomatic cases.

"The latest resurgence in China does not mean that the country's COVID-19 response policy and measures are ineffective," Liang said.

The infections increased exponentially in many countries and regions in a short period of time since the Omicron variants rage across the world. "However, China has witnessed a slower increase in the number of infections, which is precisely because we have taken a series of effective intervention measures to curb the virus," he added.