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For the last couple of days, the Western media has been awash with stories emanating from a few Chinese cities showing citizens demonstrating against the country’s strict “zero-COVID” policy. Notably, CNN has been running the story almost every news hour, with footage of demonstrations in China, followed by an expert view from a Chinese professor based in one of the leading universities in the U.S.

In what can be seen as interference in the internal affairs of another country, Washington backed the peaceful protests in a condescending and pessimistic statement on November 28: “We think it’s going to be very difficult for the People’s Republic of China to be able to contain this virus through their zero-COVID strategy.”

It is preposterous for the U.S. to act as a judge of other country’s governance, most of all on matters related to COVID-19. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in September, the U.S. has lost over 225,000 people to the virus this year alone. The data shows that more than 350 COVID-19 related American deaths are still reported daily.

While U.S. President Joe Biden was waxing lyrical on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in September that the “the pandemic is over”, public health experts led by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky felt that Biden’s comments were “somewhat premature”. Responding shortly thereafter on ABC News, Walensky warned that the COVID-19 fatality rate remains too high, with daily new infections averaging 55,000 cases.

Now, there is no denying it. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll not just on the Chinese, but virtually every other society in the world. No one has been left untouched in one way or the other, be it health wise, socially or economically. The pandemic destroyed livelihoods for millions of people, and devastated some of the strongest economies in the world.

Therefore, it would be overstretching one’s imagination to expect a responsible government to let things get out of hand as it watches. Many of the countries that seem to be gloating about social unrest in some Chinese cities long neglected their role in fighting the pandemic and are trying hard to show how strict measures against the virus do not work. But figures do not lie.

Zero-COVID, otherwise known as the “dynamic zero”, is a two-pronged prevention and containment strategy. Prevention entails early detection through regular PCR tests, while containment involves the isolation of potential or suspected cases either at home or under government supervised quarantine.

One of the other grievance that the Western media hyped on is the fact that China has never fully opened its international borders, with strict entry rules for visitors of all nationalities, including Chinese nationals going back home. It is instructive that in early 2019, the same media was involved in a massive misinformation campaign that claimed China was COVID’s ground zero. The country has still restricted its borders to protect itself from such baseless accusations and ensure no Chinese national exports the virus.

There is no belaboring the fact that that the zero-COVID policy has saved a massive number of lives. The argument in some quarters that the Omicron variant is unlikely to cause grave health issues like its predecessors totally ignored the fact that a resurgence of the high rate of transmission would lead to a run on the country’s health facilities. Moreover, it would negatively impact on vulnerable groups, including hundreds of millions of elderly people.

Ironically, the Western media acknowledges that China’s zero-COVID measures have had immense socio-economic benefits simply by the fact that the death toll from the virus has stayed below 5,000 since 2020. According to recent predictions of Chinese health experts, there would be at least 100 deaths for every 100,000 infections without the measures.

Since China’s vaccination campaign started in 2021, 3.44 billion doses have been administered, with more than 90 percent of the country’s citizens fully vaccinated. Over 50 percent of the country’s population have also received booster or additional shots.

But there is even a bigger lesson for the West. The sporadic protests against the tough anti-COVID measures shows that China truly practices democracy. The world did not witness violent scenes pitting law enforcement agencies and citizens, something the biased Western media would have relished with its relentless accusations of human rights abuses.  

The security agencies simply ensured that the protesters did not damage property or infringe on the rights of others in the course of expressing their complaints. This is really not too much to ask for in a civilized society. The demonstrations also put the onus on the citizens to ensure that they do not drop the ball by impressing the authorities with their readiness to take personal responsibility in containing and eradicating the virus.

Indeed, whether China should open its borders or fully ease up its current pandemic containment measures is a national conversation that other countries should keep off unless their advice is sought. But the world will be healthier when COVID-19 is vanquished by all means necessary.