Experts warn of infodemic and politicization of COVID-19

We need to prevent and control two kinds of epidemic: COVID-19 and “infodemic”, said George Fu Gao, member of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director-General of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at Life Science sub-forum during the Greater-bay Science Forum 2021.

Both Gao and Zhong Nanshan, member of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of Guangzhou Laboratory, warned the danger of spreading false information and politicizing COVID-19 origin tracing by certain countries when addressing the forum. “Origin tracing should be and will always be a scientific issue,” Gao stressed.

Zhong Nanshan addressing the Life Sciences sub-forum (Photo: Newsgd.com)

“The virus will share our world if we don’t share vaccines”

According to WHO COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, as of December 5, nearly 265 million confirmed cases were reported globally, with over 52,500 new deaths reported in one week, increasing by 10% as compared to the previous week. The variant of concern Omicron has been detected in 57 countries across all WHO regions.

“The virus will share our world if we don’t share vaccines,” said Gao. He calls for global solidarity in the fight against the pandemic.

“It is impossible to rely on one country or one discipline of science to overcome the pandemic. Inter-disciplinary studies and joint efforts of all countries are most critical,” said Zhong.

In Zhong’s view, it is a matter of attitude when it comes to COVID-19 prevention and control. “Are we paying great attention to the virus, regarding it as a severe disease like SARS, or just seeing it as a common flu? People’s lives come first.”

Gao suggested that three aspects are indispensable to tackling a public health emergency like COVID-19: The guidance of science, public understanding, as well as efficient administration and decision-making.

It is through these efforts that China has become the only country achieving dynamic zero cases, said Gao.

China possible to realize herd immunity before 2022

The pandemic control and prevention in China went through 3 stages, namely containment, suppression, and accurate mitigation/suppression, said Gao, so that only small scale of flare-ups occur now and then in China, while other parts of world are still suffering from the tsunami of the pandemic.

George Fu Gao addressing the Life Sciences sub-forum (Photo: Newsgd.com)

Zhong referred to the statistics that the prevalence of COVID-19 in China is around 9/100,000, which is only 1/1687 of that in the US; China’s case fatality rate is 0.4/100,000, which is 1/619 of that of the US.

To further contain the virus, China has been promoting vaccine administration nationwide. “China has seen 1.15 billion vaccines administered, and people who have completed full-course vaccination account for 81.9% of the population, which is expected to reach 83% at the end of this year,” said Zhong.

If that goal is achieved, China will realize herd immunity before 2022, Zhong added, quoting research published in Nature.

Author | Lydia Liu, Hannah, Huang Yanting (intern)

Editor | Keane, Jerry