What is China’s zero-COVID policy?

What Is China’s Zero-COVID Policy? | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer


We've all heard about there being zero COVID in China. But there's more to Beijing's pandemic containment strategy, which started immediately after the initial Wuhan outbreak.

"Through swift action, lockdowns, quarantine and contact tracing, the country was able to quickly reduce cases," says Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"The success in Wuhan led to greater implementation countrywide, and ever since Beijing has kept COVID at bay." Zero COVID, by the way, "means zero — not close to zero," which explains why Shanghai Disneyland shut down and 30,000 tests were conducted after a single suspected infection.

Despite lockdowns, Huang says the policy is quite popular in China, where many people "are even proud that the country has gotten the virus under control, especially as the United States struggles."

More from GZERO Media

US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks with GZERO founder and president Ian Bremmer at 92Y in New York City, on December 17, 2024.
Dan Martland/GZERO Media

Joe Biden's top foreign policy adviser shares his views on the transition to Trump, the risks in Syria, the choices for China, the false narrative about Russia, and what keeps him up at night as he prepares to leave office.

Argentina's President Javier Milei gestures during the Atreju political meeting organized by the young militants of Italian right-wing party Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) at Circo Massimo in Rome.
Stefano Costantino / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

A year ago, Argentina’s eccentric, wolverine-haired, “anarcho-libertarian” president Javier MIlei took office with a chainsaw and a plan: to tackle the country’s triple-digit inflation and chronic debt problems, he would hack government spending to pieces — and it seems to be working.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an address to the nation at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, December 12, 2024.
The Presidential Office/Handout via REUTERS

On Tuesday, the floor leader for South Korea’s newly-impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol’s party said it would be inappropriate to fill vacancies on the constitutional court with the powers of an acting president, setting up a fight aimed at slow-rolling Yoon’s final removal from office.

Palestinians inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a house amid the Israel-Hamas conflict at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 13, 2024.
(Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto)