Misconception about zero Covid strategy

There is a lot of misconception about about zero Covid strategy from some media outlets to politicians & scientists. 

So here’s my take on this topic. 

My take

As we are beginning to realise that we will acknowledge that Covid 19 is not going anywhere for the moment & that we have to live with it (which I do accept it) I don’t for however accept that we should treat Covid 19 like a flu. There is a clear difference between flu (influenza) and coronavirus despite both are respiratory illnesses. 

There is no such thing as long flu. Yet there is one called long Covid. 

Flu is caused by influenza virus while coronavirus (SARS-COVID-2) is caused by  novel coronavirus. Example 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia & 2012 MERs outbreak in the Middle East. 

We have been living with flu since the last century (20th century) so when I hear so many media critics say that the Zero Covid strategy cannot work in any country including here in the UK. Well I say they are wrong. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/16/ardern-reveals-the-moment-she-c-covid-elimination-strategy  🇳🇿

Look up at New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern & the NZ govt have successfully handled the Covid situation well with their own strategy. Their strategy is Zero Covid strategy. Now there is no lockdown measures, life is back to normality despite Covid continue to be present threat & there is no big much of transmission in the country. 

https://www.icelandreview.com/ask-ir/whats-the-status-of-covid-19-in-iceland/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56412790 🇮🇸

Look up at Iceland. Like the UK, it’s a small island country, they (the Icelandic govt) successfully tackled Covid with strong measures: effective contact tracing & testing, quarantine of cases and preventing cases at borders. 

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/taiwan-coronavirus-covid-response 🇹🇼 

Look up at Taiwan. They handled Covid 19 successfully and yet, Patrick Vallance and Chris Witty & the Prime Minister Boris Johnson say they are totally against the idea of eliminating Covid 19 completely & that we should treat Covid like a flu. Well I say we should treat Covid like measles.

They (Witty, Vallance and Johnson) have missed the point about zero Covid strategy. Zero Covid means zero Covid infection. It doesn’t necessarily mean Covid is gone completely. They (UK govt and scientists) should look up of how countries like New Zealand handled the Covid situation instead of opposing the idea of zero Covid. Given already, there are misconceptions about the strategy itself of eliminating Covid. 

Zero Covid means zero Covid infections. Not the disease itself & that is why they have missed the point & have no Interest of wanting to eliminate Covid 19 in the UK which means more cases of infections & deaths & that it shouldn’t be so given the government have continued to mishandled the Covid situation. 

No wonder sadly today that the UK marked a year since the first national lockdown across the country. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-56491532 

Where will the country be in the next 12 months? More round of lockdowns with Covid 19 variants. The only out of the pain and misery socially, politically, mentally and economically is to continue following the rules and regulations, social distancing, wearing face mask and finding ways reasonably to completely eradicate Covid in the country. Like I said, zero Covid means zero infections. Not the disease itself. Eventually, we’ll be back living normally as if Covid is not around (but Covid is still in present. Not that much of causing an impact like AIDS/HIV endemic in the 1980s given it is still around to this day as we know HIV is not respiratory disease). 

That’s why that we would have to come to terms with Covid eventually but not have to keep on having more lockdowns. That’s only if the government stop mismanagement of the Covid situation & do something that the country doesn’t have to go into lockdown again (which unfortunately they’ll continue to make mistakes & have more round of lockdown). One of them is to adopt the zero Covid strategy like New Zealand & other countries did while tacking coronavirus. 

So that is my take on the misconception of the zero Covid strategy.