By Staff Reporters

In a community of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, volunteers are preparing to deliver supplies to quarantined residents.(PHOTO: XINHUA)

The highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 is still sweeping across most parts of the world, but some countries like the U.S., UK,  and Japan have already announced the lifting of restrictions against COVID-19.

Unlike those countries that have eased restrictions, China has continued its various measures to adopt a "dynamic zero-clearing policy (DZCP)," on fighting against the pandemic. China will continue to stick with the policy of scientific accuracy and dynamic zero clearing, and curb the spread of the pandemic as soon as possible, President Xi Jinping stressed in a meeting in mid-March.

DZCP puts people first

After Omicron BA.2 subvariant was detected in China, the number of confirmed cases increased quickly. Some Western observers started to criticize the DZCP once again, putting much emphasis on the damage it could do to the economy. They predicted that the world economy could be seriously affected if lockdown continued.

"The aggressive DZCP will have a prolonged impact on global supply chains and [it] might overshadow the economic growth prospects for China," said GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

However, based on the Chinese perspective, people's survival will always take priority when compared to economic benefits. The basic principle of Chinese leaders governing the country during the pandemic is based on "putting people and life at the forefront."

"China's COVID lockdowns have affected domestic consumption more than manufacturing or global supply chains, but according to my friends in China, the Chinese government has put public health over economic growth. And that is actually being beneficial," Andy Rothman of the Matthews Asia Fund told CNBC.

Should China maintain DZCP?

The current pandemic wave is characterized by a large number and high proportion of asymptomatic infections, in which many infected people do not develop any symptoms. This makes it even more difficult to identify the risk and size of the outbreak.

When Omicron BA.2 subvariant was detected, the number of confirmed cases in China increased quickly, despite being still very low compared with countries elsewhere in the world.

So, does this mean that China should give up its DZCP? From China's perspective, the answer is clearly no. Let's see what is happening in those countries that have lifted their restrictions.

According to UK Coronavirus Dashboard on March 25, BA.2 COVID-19 patients now account for 85 percent of new infections, increasing 20 percent week by week. More severely, about a 17 percent increase was recorded in the number of people who died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19.

NBC News reported that infectious disease experts remain firm in their prediction that the BA.2 transmission is estimated to be 30 percent higher in the U.S. Although the subvariant may not cause severe illness or overwhelm hospital resources like earlier variants, the nature of further illness it may cause is still uncertain.

Ongoing improvement of COVID strategy

With restrictions continuing, China will continue to adopt methods such as developing COVID drugs and fast nucleic acid testing to make prevention and control efforts more effective.

About furthering policy improvement, worldwide experts like Jerome H. Kim, director-general of the International Vaccine Institute, told Barron's, "Lockdowns, mass testing, and social distracting have been scientifically proven to work."

Kim also cautioned that China should not relax policies too much. "If China begins to loosen restrictions now, it will face a surge in infections. The questions are: loosen what? Are the vulnerable protected? And are they prepared for the impact on the health care system?" he told Barron's.

Zhang Wenhong, a renowned Chinese infectious disease expert believes that sustaining normal life is as essential as implementing the DZCP. He wrote on Weibo, "We need to take advantage of the precious opportunity brought by DZCP to prepare a more complete, intelligent and sustainable COVID strategy."