On Tuesday, at a press conference of the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19, a spokesperson of China's National Health Commission said that local COVID-19 clusters have occurred in many places in China recently. Since March, the country has seen a rapid increase in the frequency of the outbreaks and the number of infections. This wave of the epidemic has affected 28 provinces and regions in the country. The current wave of the outbreak is characterized by more clusters, a wide area, and a high frequency of the emergence of new cases. Data shows the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past three months has already exceeded the total number of last year. China is facing a serious and complicated challenge in the prevention and control of the epidemic.

At a time like this, we should even more firmly adhere to the general strategy of targeting both imported cases and domestic epidemic rebound and the general policy of dynamic zero-COVID. Even though the Omicron variant has spread forcefully, overall, it remains controllable. The number of new infections in China is at a record high in two years, but the percentage of the infected population is still extremely low if we compare the figure with other countries. More importantly, almost all Chinese are confident that the epidemic will eventually be eradicated, the number of confirmed cases will drop to zero in China, and a large-scale humanitarian disaster will not occur in the country.

In a word, China's epidemic fight cannot and will not "lie flat." Certainly, we have always been adjusting COVID-19 prevention and control measures according to the situation. On Tuesday, the National Health Commission released the latest version of the diagnosis and treatment protocol, with many significant updates in terms of COVID-19 testing, management and treatment. There is also much work to be done, including continuing to increase vaccination rates, accelerating the development of anti-COVID medicine, and establishing more comprehensive emergency response plans. We don't fight a battle without any preparation, and only by taking action beforehand will we be able to take the initiative in the COVID-19 prevention and control.