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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
In China and Hong Kong, a policy of eradicating the coronavirus responsible for Covid-19 has been in place since the start of the epidemic. This is the zero-Covid principle. Despite this very strict strategy, an epidemic outbreak is currently taking place in these two territories. How is it explained? The opinion of Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
What is the zero-Covid strategy?
The zero-Covid strategy is the antithesis of the principle of “living with the virus”. It consists in limiting the circulation of the coronavirus in the strict sense by adopting very severe measures and often of immediate application.
The zero-Covid strategy means closing the borders of cities, screening massively and immediately as well as setting up very strict local confinements quickly in the event of contamination. For Doctor Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo, “we must forget the zero-Covid strategy”, which according to him “does not make sense, because the virus is present everywhere, especially in the air, and we cannot stop it”.
This is the policy that has been adopted in China since the start of the epidemic, particularly in mainland China and Hong Kong.
In 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping then declared that this method of managing the epidemic was very successful, because the measures taken, although radical, were very effective in combating the Sars-Cov-2 virus.
A strategy that seems to be challenged by the Omicron variant.
Its limits: China is experiencing its greatest epidemic peak despite the adoption of this strategy
In Hong Kong, for example, which had until then been rather spared from the coronavirus, around 30,000 cases have been counted, resulting in the death of around 200 people per day, according to the BBC. On the other hand, the hospitals of the territory are beginning to be overwhelmed, because the patients are taken care of outside the hospital establishments, for lack of medical beds.
It would seem that Hong Kong is suffering this epidemic outbreak head-on due to insufficient vaccination coverage with respect to the Omicron variant. China has not adopted the same vaccination strategy against Covid-19 as France. In the Asian country, the health authorities began by immunizing the youngest with Sinovac and Pfizer serum. Nevertheless, recent studies show that the Chinese vaccine confers 35% protection on the Omicron variant.
On the other hand, with the zero-Covid strategy, the population has not been exposed to the virus. Therefore, she could not develop natural immunity against the infection. Finally, Hong Kong has nearly 7.5 million inhabitants, making it one of the densest cities in the world.
All these reasons mean that, for Doctor Kierzek, “the zero-Covid strategy is illusory and counterproductive compared to population immunity”. And to add that “this epidemic peak is the demonstration of the failure of this strategy, having for example forgotten to protect the most fragile, the elderly, by vaccination”.
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Where has zero-Covid been applied?
Other countries have tried the zero-Covid strategy in order to eradicate the disease. This is the case, among others, of New Zealand, Australia and certain countries in Southeast Asia. However, this policy has been gradually abandoned, particularly in New Zealand and Australia, in favor of vaccination and measures to trace infected people. It now remains to be seen whether China also intends to change its health policy in view of the current epidemic peak.