While the phrase did not seem to be in Cai's original report and government censors quickly removed the misleading quote, the huge backlash on social media raised the question whether China really is serious about pursuing zero-Covid as a long-term strategy and what that means for China and the world.
A zero-Covid strategy does not seek absolute zero infection, as Chinese government officials have repeatedly said. Once a local flareup or outbreak is detected, it focuses on cutting the local transmission chain and bringing the situation under control in the shortest period.
With the emergence and global spread of new subvariants that can evade immunity provided by vaccination and prior infections, any victory against the virus under zero-Covid is short-lived.
China is facing a threat of being overrun by the virus so it is necessary to apply the strategy until the end of the epidemic, which is not in sight anytime soon.