By Musundali Bhuiyan

Many in the West are seen trying to question China's dynamic zero-COVID policy (DZCP). They seem to be desperate to question China's unparalleled success in protecting the lives of its people by implementing the policy.

However, from all accounts, the Chinese people and many foreigners living in China are ever grateful to the Chinese government for keeping them safe from the deadly coronavirus. Thanks to the stricter implementation of the DZCP, they feel satisfied and fortunate to be inside China during the pandemic.

By looking into the pandemic situations in developed nations, we can easily realize the reasons for their satisfaction with the DZCP in China. In the U.S., from January 3, 2020, to April 14, 2022, there have been 79,716,960 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 979,321 deaths, reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Apart from the epidemiological impacts, the U.S. is still going through economic setbacks as the pandemic continues to take a toll on its economic sectors. In 2020, the U.S. GDP decreased 3.5 percent, the biggest and first contraction since 1946 and 2009, respectively, according to Yahoo Finance.

The U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey published weekly statistics on the effects of the pandemic on Americans' lives. For week 12 (July 16–21, 2020), 51.1 percent of respondents reported a loss of employment income since March 13, 2020, 12.1 percent reported food scarcity, 40.1 percent delayed getting medical care in the past four weeks, and 26.5 percent reported housing insecurity. From February through June of 2020, the number of persons with jobs was down by 14.6 million. The U.S. also added 3.1 trillion USD to the public debt in just four months in the same year.

On the contrary, if we look back at the conditions of China in corresponding periods, we can see different realities. In China, from January 3, 2020, to April 14, 2022, there had been 954,346 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 14,440 deaths, reported by the WHO. The report clearly shows that the number of fatalities in the U.S. exceeds those of confirmed cases in China.

On the economic front, China's economy expanded by 2.2 percent in 2020 and was the only major world economy to grow in a pandemic-ravaged year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In addition, when the entire world was struggling to control the pandemic with its distinctive policies and strategies, China has already been the first country to turn the tide on COVID-19.

Many other major and developed countries were only second to the U.S. in the field of fighting against the pandemic. Nevertheless, many are seen to be desperate to criticize China's DZCP. They are the people who spare no effort to slander China under any circumstances.

These people first tried to establish China as the origin country of the coronavirus. But the world's scientists, including those from the WHO, dismissed their baseless claims. Afterward, they started an all-out smear campaign against China's DZCP. They are trying to tarnish China's image by saying that the policy violates individual freedom, human right of movement, and some social rights.

While blaming China for its DZCP, they hide the truth about how many human lives have been saved by the policy. They forget to mention that the right to life is the most basic human right. Every right is aimed at facilitating the development of our potential and ensuring our survival as human beings. The DZCP is defending the very right to life. China's detractors also know this reality. But they are condemning China's policy only to cover up their failures in saving their own people's lives from the coronavirus.

Musundali Bhuiyan is a Bangladeshi journalist and columnist now based in Beijing.