China has recently further adjusted and optimized its COVID response by releasing 10 new measures, which allow asymptomatic carriers and mild COVID-19 patients and those who meet certain requirements to quarantine at home.

According to Chinese renowned respiratory scientist Zhong Nanshan's team, it is expected that the peak of the first wave of infections in Guangzhou may arrive from mid-January to mid-February next year, and become stable in mid-to-early March. It's optimistically estimated that people can return to Pre-COVID-19 life in the first half of next year."

"After Omicron entered China, especially since September, through the analysis of relevant data in large cities such as Guangzhou and Chengdu, it was found that the Omicron has less than 1% risk of causing severe illness. And the infection fatality rate of Omicron is less than 0.1%," Zhong Nanshan said when he met the media on December 9.

"99% of people are not severely ill after being infected with Omicron." He said that most people can get better within 5-7 days, "Don't be afraid of COVID, and we should not discriminate against infected people."

"Pneumonia caused by Omicron infection is very rare," said Li Yimin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chief Physician of the Department of Critical Care Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University.

Li noted that in the current round of the epidemic in Guangzhou, the proportion of severe cases caused by the coronavirus is not large, and it is mainly manifested in the aggravation of underlying diseases.

"Severe and critical illness can be life-threatening, but we will actively take measures to reduce the risk of patients developing from moderate or severe to critically-ill cases."

Zhong Nanshan and his collaborative team conducted research on 158 local infections infected with the Delta strain and 679 non-local cases admitted to Guangzhou Medical University in 2021.

Studies have shown that re-positive infected people have no risk of infection, with no worsened clinical symptoms, and they do not need to be hospitalized.

As for the hot-discussed re-infection issue, Zhong Nanshan raised an example, "A research in Qatar shows that after infection with Omicron, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not, 78% of people will not be reinfected with Omicron for a long time."

He added, "Meanwhile, a Danish study with a sample size of tens of thousands of people showed that 98% of people infected with Omicron could avoid a second infection."