[Analysis of application of herd immunity as a control strategy for COVID-19].

ABSTRACT

Novel coronavirus spreads very fast and is not easy to control. It has spread over 200 countries or territories. China has taken action to implement containment strategies, including active COVID-19 case finding, tracing, and 14-day quarantine of close contacts, and home isolation of 1.39 billion of people countrywide for at least 2 weeks, etc. The combination of these strategies has brought the epidemic under control in China. The United Kingdom had deliberately not implemented containment measures for a while, instead opting to allow herd immunity strategy to develop over time. This is a "do-nothing" strategy whereby the virus is allowed to move through communities naturally until certain proportion of people has been infected, and the epidemic ends without intervention. The author assesses containment strategies versus this herd immunity strategy in real-world application to the COVID-19 epidemic. The author suggests an innovative strategy to balance controlling the epidemic and preventing impediment to economic and social development.