Australia, South Korea, New Zealand … why are these countries abandoning the “Zero Covid” strategy

This was officially announced by the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinta Artern on Monday 22 November. To fight against Covid 19, the country will now be satisfied “Containing” Virus, instead of trying to destroy it. If no timetable for reopening the borders is announced, this announcement indicates the abandonment of the zero Govt, which is one of the first countries to adopt this strategy on March 23, 2020.

In the winter of 2020, as the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread in its grip, the world was divided on defenses to combat it. Two counter-attacks, except for the poles, were created. One is to “drop” the infection in the hopes of achieving collective immunity, such as the Ultralaxist, the United Kingdom or Sweden. The other, known as the “Zero Govt”, was selected by Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It is true that their geographical definitions, often in the form of an island or a peninsula, favored this withdrawal.

This approach aims to suppress the virus cycle curve. Initially, it was a question of imposing very strict controls on achieving a small proportion of new cases. Then, several levers are implemented to control the new clusters: locking the boundaries, controlling the crowds, general wearing of the mask, tryptic “test, trace, isolate” (DTI). If the signals are green, the non-virus areas will be reopened separately, but subject to the TTI rule. Once an explosion is detected, everything is done to extinguish it as quickly as possible.

Nearly two years later, when most countries that introduced the zero Govt strategy appear to be abandoning it – with the exception of China and Hong Kong – what is the assessment? In terms of health, success is overwhelming. Mortality rates in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and Vietnam have risen to 8, 28, 62, 65, 75 and 243 per million, respectively. In contrast, in the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Sweden these rates reached 2,382, 2,208, 2,105, 1,811 and 1,482 deaths per million population.

But economically? Most of these Countries consider zero goiter as a temporary defense – aimed at protecting their people when vaccine or treatment shields are available and it comes into effect – but will be eradicated, then, and relaxed. Since then, this policy has been economically feasible because it was temporary. “Trick Zero Govt – That I defended – Can not be a definite option, Professor William Top, former Director General of Health believes. This, in my opinion, is the best way to vaccinate a key part of the population. “ The epidemiologist says that in today’s world it is impossible to maintain this technique for a long time. Especially after the advent of the delta variant, the highly contagious has imposed an increase in control measures.

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