Well as always we have the the chinese causing trouble again ........they have no conscience .....i cannot stand them .......they lie like horse thieves and have no respect for themselves and anyone else .......and as always the masses buy into the fear and horse shit .......they are the most servile repugnant race of people on the planet ........
How China Downgraded Covid From 'Devil' Virus to a Common Cold
(Bloomberg) -- All the way through the pandemic, China’s propaganda machine delivered a simple but powerful message: the country would not give up its fight to eradicate Covid.
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Yet when President Xi Jinping’s government abruptly abandoned its zero-tolerance policy toward the virus this month, that machine — comprising everyone from officials to medical experts and state media commentators — had to quickly change gears. The result was a jarring 180-degree shift in the narrative. Covid was no longer the "devil" virus Xi warned about at the start of the pandemic; instead it was no worse than the flu, and the economy could reopen without fear. Keeping with the spirit of the times, the government stopped keeping count of all new cases and changed the classification of Covid deaths.
- ADVERTISEMENT -“In China, facts are enmeshed in politics,” said David Bandurski, co-director of research program the China Media Project. “When the politics change, the understanding of the facts change.”The following are some side-by-side comparisons of statements made by officials and other members of the Communist Party apparatus before and around the dismantling of Covid Zero:
Like the Flu, or Not
Then:
“Omicron made the world slowly realize that China’s approach was right” — Zhong Nanshan, China’s top medical advisor, said in reference to Covid Zero, at a science forum in Guangzhou on Dec. 11, 2021.
Now:
Omicron’s fatality rate is only at 0.1%, similar to that of seasonal influenza, and hence Covid can simply be called a “cold,” Zhong said at a university lecture on Dec. 15.
Then:
Asymptomatic people “are very dangerous” because they “generally do not go for nucleic acid testing” — Li Lanjuan, director of the State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV in March 30, 2020.
Now:
“Although asymptomatic infections are contagious, they are not sick patients, so there is no need to panic,” said Li on Dec. 9.
Lying Flat and Living With Covid
Then:
“Recently, some people have seen other foreign countries face the pandemic by ‘lying flat.’ They believe the sacrifices are too severe for our country to adhere to dynamic zero, that we should follow suit and coexist with the virus. This is an extremely incorrect and irresponsible view.The omicron variant is by no means a ‘big flu’. It spreads quickly and still has a high rate of severe illness and death among vulnerable people, especially the elderly with underlying conditions,” according to commentary by the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, Oct. 5.
(Omicron was at this time, and still is, the dominant variant in China.)
Now:
“In the past three years, the virus has become weaker, but we have become stronger,” according to a commentary in the People’s Daily on Dec. 8. “We got through the most difficult moment!” the commentary said, before emphasizing that the variant spreading in China has become less dangerous and hinting at economic reasons for the shift in strategy. “Epidemic prevention and development are two ends of a balance. Both are extremely important.”
Then:
If China follows other countries in adopting a ‘lying flat’ approach to Covid, then the result would be massive infections across the Chinese population, leading inevitably to substantial severe disease and death, Liang Wannian, an epidemiologist-turned health official overseeing China's Covid response, said at a briefing on Oct. 13. “This is incompatible with Chinese culture and its anti-Covid philosophy,” he said.
Now:
"We've achieved a tremendous amount in the past three years, preventing hundreds of millions of infections and millions of deaths," said Liang in an interview with the People's Daily on Dec. 9.
"We've effectively protected people's health and safety while balancing Covid controls with economic development. Through these efforts, we have waited long enough to see omicron's virulence drop significantly, the arrival of effective vaccines and drugs, and the opportunity to further optimize our epidemic response."
Then:
Municipalities must be "steadfast" and "decisive" in sticking to "dynamic Covid Zero" measures, so as to minimize the pandemic’s impact on the economy and people’s daily life, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said during a visit to Chongqing on Nov. 21.
Now:
“As the omicron variant becomes less pathogenic, more people get vaccinated and our experience in Covid prevention accumulates, our fight against the pandemic is at a new stage and it comes with new tasks,” Sun said at a meeting with the National Health Commission in Beijing on Nov. 30. She didn’t use the term dynamic Covid Zero.
Then:
During a trip to Wuhan in late June, President Xi declared Covid Zero the most “economic and effective” policy for China. The nation would rather endure some temporary impact on economic development than let the virus hurt people’s safety and health, he said.
“Our country has a large population, such strategies as ‘herd immunity’ and ‘lying flat’ would lead to consequences that are unimaginable,” Xi said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. “We have the leadership of CCP, we have the communities as the foundation at grassroots level, we have the capability and strength to implement dynamic-clearance policy until reaching the final victory.”
Now:
Xi has not spoken publicly about the shift. The closest to a change in his language came in remarks to European Council President Charles Michel on Dec. 1, when Xi said the less-lethal omicron variant was now the prevalent Covid-19 strain in China. The comments were quoted by a European Union official, who was briefed on the meeting and asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
Long Covid
Then:
"The US and other countries have a growing number of post-Covid patients who suffer from symptoms ranging from difficulty with breathing to memory loss, causing many negative impacts for society and continuing to threaten public health," a People's Daily report said on Nov. 3. "Countries that relaxed Covid curbs too early have added to the risks of their populations contracting long Covid, resulting in growing pressures on social and medical resources, a shrinking labor force and economic downturn in the long run."
Now:
"There are basically no reports of long Covid from the omicron variant," Zhu Huachen, an associate professor of virology at The University of Hong Kong, said in an interview with CCTV.com on Dec. 10.
--With assistance from Jennifer Creery, Dong Lyu and Selina Xu.
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