CNA (Channel NewsAsia):

It's been almost three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the World Health Organization has said that the end is in sight. China, on its part, has maintained that it will hold unswervingly to its dynamic zero-COVID policy, even as other countries around the world have chosen to open up. Is there concern that China will become isolated especially as the country faces challenges in its economy? What factors will be seen as favorable for China to relax some of its COVID measures and to open up further?

Sun Yeli:

The once-in-a-century pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the economic development and people's lives across the globe. We all long for it to end sooner. As things stand, however, the virus still lingers. That is the reality that we must face.

Since the onset of the epidemic, China has always put protecting the people and human lives above everything else, and prioritized the health and safety of the people. This boils down to the purpose of all of our prevention and control measures.

Dynamic zero-COVID policy is an anti-pandemic principle made in light of China's national realities and the laws of science. The essence is rapid response as well as targeted prevention and control measures, so as to bring outbreaks under control with minimum costs to society and in the shortest possible time, to protect people's health and safety to the greatest extent possible, and to minimize the impact on social and economic development and people's daily lives to the best of our ability.

China has a big population with a great number of elderly people. Development is uneven among regions and medical resources are insufficient on the whole. It is precisely due to the dynamic zero-COVID policy that we have managed to keep infection and fatality rates at an extremely low level. Keeping to this approach with robust efforts to curb the virus, stabilize the economy, and secure development is how we have realized sustained and stable economic and social development. All things considered, China's anti-pandemic measures are the most cost-effective and have worked the best for our country.

In accordance with the general principle of dynamic zero-COVID policy, we continue to improve specific measures on epidemic prevention and control. We have published nine editions of COVID-19 control protocol based on the changing epidemic situation and our growing knowledge about the virus. Our anti-pandemic strategies and measures will become more science-based, targeted, and effective, and our ability to coordinate epidemic prevention and control with socioeconomic development will see further improvement.

We firmly believe that we are seeing the light of dawn on the horizon, and with perseverance, we will prevail over the pandemic. Thank you.