Passengers wait in line for check-in at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport on January 8, 2023. The report says the epidemic peaked in late December, and then continued to decline, with similar trends in all provincial and rural areas, based on data provided by all provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland from Dec 9 to Jan 23.
It's a positive development, given the warnings of some that there would be a likely burst of infections in rural areas as migrant workers returned to their hometowns to celebrate the festival. Action plans were drawn up to cope with the expected increase in infections in villages.
Some of these plans, which essentially tilted more medical care resources to villages, had to be implemented. It is always better to err on the side of caution, and the process acts as a rehearsal for addressing a public health crisis that might emerge in the countryside in the future.
Although it can be attributed to probability, it is good to see that no new variant of the virus has appeared, defying the predictions of some who claimed that the largest scale and most intensive population mobility in such a short period would be a happy hunting ground for the virus, enabling it to mutate.
The country is regaining its equilibrium after a quick adaptation to the rise of infections after the latest adjustment to the prevention and control measures, as evidenced by the robust growth in consumption and traveling over the holiday season.
Those Chinese-bashing politicians in the United States who were prominent in making alarmist claims that China's lifting of its strict virus control measures was an immediate threat to global public health have been left to swallow their words.
The spring festival holiday has shown the effectiveness of the country's virus control policies, which have been adjusted over the past three years in light of the actual epidemic situation in the country.
The CDC report is of great significance to the world as it provides meaningful information for the World Health Organization as it continues to assess the Pandemic situation. The world health body decided to maintain the global health emergency over the virus on Monday, and the country must keep an eye on the situation to see how it develops.