Mainland infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan said on Friday that China’s Covid strategy should now switch from preventing transmission to making sure those infected do not suffer from serious illness. 

He said the mainland’s infection control has achieved remarkable results in the past two years, noting infection numbers and deaths are far lower than other countries. 

Zhong added that symptoms caused by the prevalent Omicron variant are on average less severe than older variants. 

He was speaking at a livestreamed academic conference. 

While the expert said infection control must be maintained, he noted that it would have social and economic consequences if overdone. 

He called the recent relaxation of Covid rules an improvement to epidemic-control measures, adding that the next step should be to further boost the vaccination rate.