Experience in fighting virus can be shared with the world
China’s experience in fighting the novel coronavirus could provide more practical experience in upgrading global cooperation in public health emergencies, according to a newly released report.
The report, China’s Fight Against COVID-19 Epidemic, said that a full governmental and social mobilization across the country has made a great contribution to the fight against the epidemic — such as mobilizing and coordinating steady medical and living supplies for Hubei province, adopting tailored and targeted measures to build up local capacity in patient admission and treatment, and restricting population mobility to cut off sources of potential family and community transmission.
Issued by the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, the report said many important lessons have been learned by China and the world in the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“Institutionalizing emergency response mechanisms, social mobilization systems, creating strategic assets in megacities, improving the competence of community-level officials and creating public health awareness through training courses and education program”— these will be valuable lessons for China and the world to learn after the outbreak, the report said.
China could share its challenges and good practices on its cross-region medical supply system and coordination networks for medical experts with the international community, it said, adding that in times of a global emergency, international solidarity and coordination, rather than extreme rhetoric and excessive reaction, is “what is needed for the well-being of the international community”.
The report also said the war against the novel coronavirus pneumonia in China has reached a critical moment where the turning point lies in the effectiveness of the current prevention and control measures, and the degree of public cooperation received.
It said the situation in the epicenter will continue to stabilize and improve with the adjustment and upgrade of national epidemic prevention strategies and measures.
While optimists think the epidemic may be over by the end of April, and pessimists argue that the turning point will come as late as April, the research team said that the emergence of the inflection point of the epidemic would depend on “the implementation of China’s current epidemic prevention measures” and “the cooperation of the entire population”.
“A decrease in new confirmed and suspected cases will be the most direct indicator of the turning point, and a clear proof of the effectiveness of the prevention and control measures.”
The report said that if this trend continued for another week or two, the first mission would be accomplished. After millions of people returned to work in major cities the number of new infections could be kept low for two weeks, then this could be expected to be a turning point in China, except for Hubei province, the report added.
“Next, a decreasing number of severe cases and deaths will indicate that the medical treatment is taking effect, and that the severity of the epidemic is in check. … Finally, the ultimate victory will be achieved when all COVID-19 patients are cured,” the report said.
“In general, strong epidemic control, effective medical treatment for COVID-19 patients, and enhancing the rehabilitation rate are three interrelated missions of China’s war against the epidemic,” the report said, adding that China could win the war in the shortest time only when all the missions were achieved.
Although there is no cure or treatment for the novel coronavirus pneumonia, the analysis pointed out that China had found effective ways to contain the coronavirus.