China’s Response to the Novel Coronavirus Wins Global Applause

At present, the battle against the contagious disease caused by the novel coronavirus has entered a critical stage, and every point of progress has caught global attention. In tackling the tricky decease, China’s response has won understanding and supporting voices from many countries around the world.

“We would have seen many more cases outside China by now, and probably deaths, if it were not for the government’s efforts and the progress they have made to protect their own people and the people of the world,” said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a news conference, who recently wrapped up his visit to China.

“The speeds with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with WHO and the world are very impressive and beyond words. So is China’s commitment to transparency and supporting other countries. In many ways, China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response, and this is not an exaggeration,” he added.

“China’s capacity to diagnose, treat, and manage communicable diseases and health emergencies has advanced considerably over the past 20 years. The level of response of China has clearly evolved since the SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO communications officer.

France highly appreciates the Chinese government taking active and powerful measures to deal with the disease and staying committed to curb the spread of the contagion, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. He added that France is willing to provide all the necessary assistance to China as long as it needs.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) highly values the Chinese government and people’s unity and determination to resolutely control the novel coronavirus epidemic, and appreciates the powerful measures China has taken, said ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a phone conversation with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday that India supports the Chinese government and people to go all out to fight against the novel coronavirus, and is fully confident that China will win the battle.

China’s measures have also been applauded by scholars around the world.

Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, stated in an article that “in a massive effort of national and international coordination, a consortium led by Chinese scientists and international researchers was rapidly brought together.” He noted that “the Chinese government’s response to this new outbreak has been swift and decisive. It shows a marked departure from public health policies during the SARS outbreak in 2002”, and “it is clear that in just under two decades, China has made remarkable progress in responding effectively to disease outbreaks.” 

“China… has developed excellent disease surveillance systems since SARS, including real-time emergency department surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections, so this will help with rapid identification of new cases,” Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity research program at Sydney’s Kirby Institute, told Reuters.

“China rapidly isolated the novel coronavirus on January 7 and shared viral genome data with the international community three days later.” Alexandra L. Phelan, adjunct professor in global and public health law and ethics with Georgetown University, noted in an article co-authored with other scholars. “The Chinese Lunar New Year is the largest annual mass travel event worldwide, risking amplification of the spread of 2019-nCoV. In response, China severely restricted movement across Hubei Province, in 16 cities, affecting more than 50 million people.”