China’s reaction — or the lack thereof — is rarely stunning. The country’s border restrictions are previously amid the strictest in the entire world, with most foreign site visitors, from travellers to students, banned from moving into mainland China. Individuals handful of who are allowed to enter, as nicely as returning Chinese citizens, have to bear at the very least 14 times of rigid centralized quarantine. And that can be prolonged to up to 28 times by nearby authorities, usually followed by an additional prolonged interval of property observation.

And at a convention in Guangzhou in excess of the weekend, Zhong Nanshan, a best respiratory disorder professional and governing administration adviser, claimed China has no ideas to consider any “key action” in response to the Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, in Chinese condition media the prevailing temper is a single of clear vindication. As considerably of the entire world started out to reopen and master to dwell with Covid, China dug its heels and appeared increasingly isolated by comparison. That isolation is now becoming extolled as a uniquely Chinese edge in the battle versus the new variant.

“Big Western nations around the world have minimize air inbound links with international locations this kind of as South Africa, showing that these nations around the world are frightened. Developing an immune shield centered on the vaccine alone has really proved to be a risky route, and can even be claimed to have unsuccessful to a significant extent,” the International Periods, a point out-run nationalist tabloid, mentioned in an editorial Sunday.

“China’s dynamic zero-circumstance route has been criticized in the West in several methods. Nonetheless, if the Omicron variant launches a new wave of assault, it is China that will be ideal equipped to block its invasion,” explained the editorial, which went on to…