Frustration and Hope:World in Pandemic

by Zhou Xin

Due to the relentless COVID-19 pandemic， many moments of 2021 seemed like flashbacks to 2020.

The fight against the pandemic continued to dominate the year. And still no foreseeable end or victory is on the horizon. The highly contagious Delta variant from the first half of the year was eventually replaced by the even more contagious variant Omicron as winter came. In the Northern Hemisphere， the pandemic stayed for the winter.

Life before the pandemic was totally different. Just two years ago， medical masks were primarily seen on doctors， and anyone wearing one on the street was likely ill. Two years ago， the phrase“nucleic acid” was only heard in classrooms and academic circles. Two years ago， vaccines had never been produced in such a short time.

People desperately want to return to the days before the pandemic. In December 2021， South Korea had to resume anti-epidemic policies when daily cases increased by nearly 8，000 after social distancing policies had been ended for only a month. In the United States， the NBA， which had already postponed many games due to the virus， has seen more and more players being placed in the league’s health and safety protocols. Some games were postponed because some teams don’t have enough players available on the court. The National History Museum in London announced that it would temporarily close for a week because of a staff shortage due to the pandemic.

The swinging pendulum of pandemic control measures in countries around the world reflects the struggle between freedom and order during the pandemic. After a short period of strong prevention and control measures， the pandemic is far from defeated as public patience has diminished little by little. On December 18， 2021， an anti-lockdown demonstration broke out in London. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the country’s NHS COVID Pass and other restriction measures. Paris has seen several protests against the Pass Sanitaire and compulsory vaccination in France.

Still， 2021 was different from 2020 in terms of the pandemic. As of the end of 2021， China’s COVID-19 vaccination had exceeded 2.69 billion doses， and more than 1.19 billion people had completed the entire vaccination process. The vaccinated population exceeded 80 percent. Although the immune escape caused by the virus mutation will weaken the vaccine’s effectiveness， timely booster shots can maintain the vaccine’s neutralizing effect on the Omicron and Delta variants. China’s first domestic COVID-19 drug has also been officially approved. Three phases of clinical trials have been conducted by 110 medical institutions in six countries on four continents in accordance with international standards. Statistics show that the drug can reduce the severity and mortality rate by 80 percent.

On December 22， 2021， the U.S. Food and Drug Administration （FDA） announced authorization of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 drug Paxlovid for the treatment of high-risk patients who are 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 88 pounds. It was the first oral COVID-19 drug approved by the FDA， and it has been proven effective against the Omicron variant.

In such a hard time， hope matters most. Although the pandemic continues， the pace of human struggle against the virus has never slowed.

The spread of this virus has pushed people to think more deeply about the relationship between man and nature， and the pandemic is not the only alarm that nature has sounded for mankind in recent years.

July 2021 was particularly troublesome. Historically， the Yellow River， which was frequently diverted due to sedimentation problems， was the major culprit of floods in the Central Plains region of China. However， in 2021， the city of Zhengzhou in this region suffered an extreme rainstorm on a seemingly ordinary day. The maximum hourly rainfall reached 201.9 mm， breaking the previous record across the Chinese mainland. In just a few hours， many parts of Zhengzhou， capital of Henan Province， were almost entirely under water. Heavy rains caused severe losses including 292 fatalities and direct economic losses of 53.2 billion yuan （about US$7.6 billion）.

Extreme weather events brought by climate change have raged in various countries around the world. Severe flooding occurred in parts of Europe， causing dozens of casualties and economic losses amounting to billions of euros. The second consecutive year of drought in subtropical South America has significantly reduced the flow of large rivers and affected agriculture， transportation， and energy production.

The peak of Greenland’s ice sheet witnessed its first rainfall in recorded history. Canada’s glaciers are melting rapidly. And a deadly heat wave hit Canada and parts of the United States， pushing the temperature in a village in British Columbia to nearly 50 degrees Celsius.

“When we take care to protect nature， nature rewards us generously，” said Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Leader’s Summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity （COP15） in October 2021. “When we exploit nature ruthlessly， it punishes us without mercy. We need to have deep reverence for nature， respect nature， follow nature’s laws， and protect nature， so as to build a homeland of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.”

The 2020 UN Conference on Biological Diversity （Part 1） was held in Kunming， capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan Province last October. Endeavors including setting up the Kunming Biodiversity Fund， establishing national parks， and commitment to peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 evidence that China has long sought green development.

On November 10， 2021， China and the United States released the China-U.S. Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties （COP26） to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Glasgow， U.K. The two countries expressed appreciation for work done so far and pledged to continue to work together to take enhanced climate action to effectively respond to the climate crisis.

Despite twists and turns in China-U.S. relations， the two countries still stand together to protect our planet and take solid steps towards a shared future for all life on Earth.

On the morning of November 16， 2021， Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden held an online meeting. Xi noted that China and the United States have joined hands to promote the signing of the Paris Agreement to address climate change. As both countries transition to a green and low-carbon economy， climate change can certainly become a new highlight of China-U.S. cooperation. Biden pledged to strengthen cooperation in areas where the interests of the United States and China are the same and jointly address global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change so that the people of both countries can have a better life.

In 2022， sights remain firmly focused on seeking a better life.