Recently, the epidemic has been repeated, accompanied by unexpected isolation, nucleic acid testing, travel and business restrictions. This has brought inconvenience to the lives of many people, and even some people can't help but sigh and envy the foreign "lying flat" type of epidemic prevention.
But in fact, "foreigners still party every day and sing night after night under the epidemic" may be a common cognitive bias for many people.
In fact, many countries are still in relatively strict prevention and control.
Data lab Our World In Data quantifies the rigor of each country's epidemic prevention policies. It is worth mentioning that Germany, Tonga, Bhutan, Canada, Ecuador, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, India and other countries have also implemented stricter epidemic prevention policies than China[1]:
(Strict Index of Epidemic Prevention Policies in Some Countries)
In the study, the indicators included in the assessment included nine indicators: school closures, workplace closures, cancellation of public activities, restrictions on public gatherings, closure of public transportation, home requirements, restrictions on internal mobility and international travel controls.
Countries like Canada, Germany, India and others have eliminated large public events, and private parties cannot hold multi-person gatherings.
Each country's 9 indicators will get a score (0 to 100), the higher the value, the stricter the epidemic prevention policy, the most stringent is currently Germany (80.56), while China's data is updated to March 1).
The outbreak in Germany is very severe: more than 17.33 million of the 83.24 million people are infected, accounting for more than one-fifth of the total population, and more than 120,000 people have died from COVID-19[2].
Germany is directly classified as the highest (level 4) in the CDC's classification of the risk of outbreaks in countries around the world,[3] and is not recommended for travel.
To this end, the German government has introduced a series of measures to restrict people's travel and promote vaccinations, including [4,5]:
1. Classify public places
3G: People who have recovered from COVID-19, who have been vaccinated or who have tested negative can only be admitted, mainly in workplaces, public transportation, and restaurants and hotels. People must wear masks in these places;
2G: People who have recovered from COVID-19 infection and those who have been vaccinated can only enter, including large-scale events, dance halls, clubs, etc.;
2G Plus: People who have recovered from COVID-19 infection, people who have been vaccinated, and have a negative test result to enter.
2. Limit social interaction
People who have not been vaccinated can only hold or attend private gatherings with their families or other families of no more than 2 people.
3. All Germans need to be tested for COVID-19 once a week
4. High fines
In order for these policies to be put in place, Germany has also developed a series of policies, such as violating 3G regulations to enter the workplace, may face a fine of up to 25,000 euros (about 175,000 yuan).
(German Street View)
Strict index: 68.98
Of Canada's more than 38 million people, more than 3.37 million people have been infected and more than 30,000 people have died,[2] and the United States is also ranked as the highest risk level for the epidemic [6].
In response to TheoMicron, The province of Quebec, Canada's second-largest city, announced on December 30 last year that a curfew would be imposed from the second day (the new Chinese New Year's Eve), and all indoor sports and worship venues would be closed except for funerals for up to 25 people. Violation of the curfew will result in a fine of 1,000 to 6,000 Canadian dollars (about 5,000 to 30,000 yuan).
(Quebec Street View)
In addition, The Governor of Quec North, Canada, Legault, also announced a decision: adults who refuse to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will face fines [9], the amount of which has not been determined. Legault explains that not vaccinating puts a burden on the health care system and should not be borne by all Quebec northerners.
Some countries have already begun to promote these fines: in Greece, elderly people over the age of 60 face fines of UP 100 euros (about 700 yuan) for not getting vaccinated, and in Austria, residents over the age of 14 who do not cooperate with the vaccination are fined up to 3,600 euros (about 25,000 yuan).
Strict index: 71.76
News in India is always a little magical, and the same is true during the epidemic, such as: at the beginning of the epidemic, some people in India claimed that smearing cow dung and cow urine on the body can prevent the new crown.
It may be a bit of a subversion of everyone's perception: the infection rate of India's total population is 3.1%, which is actually lower than that of many countries. However, due to the relatively large population base, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in India currently exceeds 42 million.
The large number of confirmed patients and poor medical conditions have led to a higher mortality rate in Indians after infection, with a cumulative total of 510,000 deaths due to COVID-19 [2].
The emergence of Aomi Kerong earlier this year led to another wave of outbreaks in India, with nearly 350,000 people confirmed in a single day on January 21.
Closed controls have been carried out for more than a month in several parts of India: curfews, home quarantines on weekends, restrictions on store hours, suspension of offline teaching, restrictions on the number of people gathering, closure of gyms, swimming pools, etc. [10,11]. At present, the daily new increase has begun to fall back to around 2000 to 3000 [12].
(Source: CCTV2 Financial Channel)
There is also a small episode about India's epidemic prevention: many Indians have the habit of spitting on the ground, which is very unfavorable to epidemic prevention and control. And there are many people in India who like to chew raw betel nut, so many people's phlegm is still blood red, which is particularly conspicuous.
In response, parts of India have enacted legislation prohibiting spitting, and violators can face fines or even imprisonment for 6 months to 2 years.
Strict index: 69.91
Brazil currently has more than 29.39 million confirmed cases, of which more than 650,000 have died due to COVID-19, second only to the United States.[3]
Brazil has been required to wear a mask in public since About May 2020, and violating the regulations will result in a fine of US$110 (about 700 YUAN).
Interestingly, however, Brazil's president took the lead in breaking the rule: in June 2021, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not wear a mask and led thousands of supporters on motorcycles to the streets. Afterwards, he was fined for it.
(President Jarl Bolsonaro rides a motorcycle[14] Source: Associated Press)
Currently, in order to promote vaccination in Brazil, many public places, public transportation, and schools require proof of vaccination to enter [15,16].
Several of the countries mentioned above have a higher "strict index of epidemic prevention measures" than China.
It can be seen that strict epidemic prevention is still the mainstream choice in many countries, and the main purpose is to reduce the flow of people and promote vaccination, thereby reducing the infection rate, severe disease rate and case fatality rate.
"Lying flat" may give us a short period of freedom, but what will happen to China if we relax our epidemic prevention policies without being fully prepared?
Dr. Zhang Wenhong concluded on Weibo on March 14 that it will cause infection of a large number of people in a short period of time, and even the lowest case fatality rate will cause a short shock in medical resources and social life, causing irreparable harm to society and families.
Sun Chunlan, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, also stressed at the national teleconference on epidemic prevention and control work recently: adhere to the general strategy of "external prevention of imports, internal prevention and rebound" and the general policy of "dynamic zero clearance" without wavering and relaxation, and take decisive measures to control the local cluster epidemic as soon as possible and consolidate the results of epidemic prevention and control.
I believe that with our fuller understanding of the virus and ways to deal with it, the life of sealing and isolation will not be the norm, and we will survive the difficulties by doing a good job of protection and cooperating with epidemic prevention!
Review expert: Faye Wong
Deputy Chief Physician of the Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University
bibliography
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[2] Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 2022. COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[3] CDC. 2022. COVID-19 in Germany. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[4] Integrationsbeauftragte. 2022. What You Need to Know About Coronavirus (Chinesisch). [online] Available at:[Accessed 14 March 2022].
[5] DataGuidance. 2022. Germany: Federal guidelines on 3G regulation under the amended Infection Protection Act - Key takeaways Part one. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[6] CDC. 2022. COVID-19 in Canada. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[7]reuters. 2022. Quebec announces curfew, Ontario cuts isolation period as Canada tackles Omicron. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[8] KHALEDA RAHMAN, 2022. Dozens face $4,700 fines after COVID curfew protests in Montreal. [online] Newsweek. Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[9]Npr.org. 2022. In Quebec, people who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID will face a financial penalty. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[10] Hindustan Times. 2022. Uttar Pradesh lifts night curfew as Covid cases decline. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
World Wide Web. 2022. India's epidemic rebounded, more than 400 workers in parliament were infected, and epidemic prevention measures were tightened in many places. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[12] Win.d. 2022. Real-time broadcast of the epidemic in India. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[13] India Today. 2022. Spitting, smoking in public to now attract fine, jail time in Maharashtra. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[14] AP NEWS. 2022. Bolsonaro fined for flouting mask order at motorcycle rally. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[15] Crisis24. 2022. Brazil: Authorities update certain COVID-19-related restrictions as of Feb. 2 /update 50. [online] Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
[16] Berti, L., 2022. Over two-thirds of Brazil's federal universities to demand vaccine passports. [online] The Brazilian Report. Available at:[Accessed 15 March 2022].
Author: Chen Zexiong | Editors: Zhang Li, Zhang Jie
Typesetting: Han Ningning | Operations: Li Yongmin | Coordinator: Ye Yichu