> See, even China did those measures that helped but ultimately they had to give up.

No, they didn't. They implemented precisely those authoritarian measures that seem to be working at first (like lockdowns) but are neither sustainable nor even effective for any prolonged period of time (> 2 weeks).

Zero covid worked well for 1.5 to 2 years (most of country side), enough time to roll out vax and build out medical infra. ICU beds doubled from 5 to 10/100k, staffing them still issue since 2 years not enough time to train, but they're recruiting students. IMO about 4 months of excess zero covid was wasteful, should have openned up during summer but Xi waited until Oct party congress.

That said, impossible for west/rest to systemically lockdown post delta/omicron, R value too high. PRC travellers already out there, whatever variant is going to go global if borders remotely porous.