Mourning to reflect on past, look to the future

Saturday was Tomb Sweeping Day, which according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is the day when Chinese people traditionally pay homage to deceased family members and friends.

But this year’s day of remembrance also included three minutes of national mourning, beginning at 10 am, to offer people a chance to commemorate those whose lives have been lost in the fight against the novel coronavirus — in China alone, as of Saturday night, the virus had claimed 3,329 lives, according to the National Health Commission.

In particular, the three minutes offered an opportunity for those living far from Hubei province, the part of China worst-hit by the outbreak, to reflect on the ordeals and sacrifices of those in the province — particularly of those in its stilllocked down capital Wuhan, which has accounted for 77 percent of the fatalities caused by the virus. More people would have been infected and more people would have died if the virus had been able to run wild throughout the country.

Had a cordon sanitaire not been imposed on the province to restrict the transmission of the virus, which enabled medical resources to be concentrated there, it would have been even more difficult to bring the virus to heel.

We should never forget the dozens of doctors and nurses, some of whom were among the thousands that volunteered to help their colleagues on the front line in Wuhan, who gave their lives trying to save others.

It is the dedication of the medical workers in Wuhan and the rest of the province, and those who came from all over the country to aid them in their hour of need, that prevented an even greater loss of life and stopped more families from being overwhelmed by grief.

But even while we count our blessings that the death toll has not been higher and that China has been among the first batch of countries to cut the transmission of the virus, we cannot afford any complacency, for there is not only the possibility that the virus may stage a comeback at any time, but the country has borne and continues to bear a heavy cost because of its efforts to curb the contagion.

The country has plenty lessons that it must learn from this. Not least, it must be able to respond to any future public health emergency in a more preemptive way.

But it has been heartwarming to see many countries and international organizations express their sympathy and share their grief with us on our day of national mourning. Such compassion and benevolence is the foundation for international solidarity to combat not only this pandemic, but future crises.

Nevertheless, we cannot ignore that some, particularly some in the United States, have never stopped slandering China in a bid to scapegoat the country for the worsening situations in their own country. That they feel no compunction in trying to divert attention from their own failings in such a way leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

With the total number of people worldwide who have been infected by the virus exceeding 1 million on the weekend, and more than 65,000 having died, their callousness in seeking political capital from the pandemic is a shameful betrayal of our common humanity.