MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. China altered its anti-COVID measures when it became less costly and this move was made because of a scientific assessment, not hopelessness, China’s ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview with TASS.

"The moment came when the adjustment of anti-COVID measures became less costly and involved the least amount of risks. I would like to stress that the decision on optimizing the anti-COVID measures is based on the analysis of objective facts and scientific evaluation, it fits in with practical, proactive and effective efforts on fighting coronavirus. We came to this decision prepared and not out of desperation. There are more than enough arguments supporting this," he explained.

For instance, the diplomat pointed out that China had successfully prevented "a snowballing infection with dangerous coronavirus strains including the initial Delta strain and its variation." It was followed by the Omicron variant with noticeably lower pathogenicity and virulence.

"From the standpoint of the epidemiological situation and the virus’ mutation, the research data of both foreign and Chinese scientific institutions show that the Omicron strain which has a large circulation worldwide has lowered pathogenicity. Despite the large number of those infected with Omicron, the documented share of those seriously ill with it and the mortality caused by it is low," the ambassador added.

"As for the level of collective immunity, then the vaccination campaign in China is all-encompassing. Across the country, the cumulative number of jabs against the novel coronavirus infection has already surpassed 3.4 bln doses, 92% of residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine while 90% of the population have been fully inoculated," Zhang Hanhui concluded.