China needs to change the name of COVID-19 so that it reflects its mutation. Patients with mild symptoms should be permitted to remain at home and should not be quarantined, a top authority in traditional Chinese medicine stated Wednesday.
Gu Xiaohong stated to the Beijing Daily that coronavirus’ Chinese title, which refers to it as a disease that causes pneumonia, needs changing so it can be called an infectious virus.
China’s COVID approach – that has emphasized widespread testing and quarantining positive cases in specialised facilities, should shift from passive detection to active prevention. Light cases can be recuperated at home.
Gu stated that the China Association of Chinese Medicine’s infectious diseases arm had come to a compromise on how the virus should be described.
These remarks align with recent changes in tone by Chinese health professionals and media toward COVID. Authorities have also relaxed some of the most stringent COVID restrictions around the globe.
Many people believe that these moves will signal a greater shift to normalcy in the third year of the pandemic.
Officials are beginning to downplay the risks posed by this virus. Official news agency Xinhua stated Monday that “the most difficult period” had ended. It cited the weakness of the virus’ pathogenicity and the efforts to vaccinate 90%.
