By Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan
With the outbreak of COVID-19, China has been fighting it in an open, transparent, and responsible manner.
– On December 27 last year, Dr. Zhang Jixian, Director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care at Hubei Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, reported suspected cases.
– On December 29, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission and Wuhan Municipal Health Commission instructed related centers for disease control and prevention and hospitals to carry out an epidemiological investigation.
– On December 30, Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued an urgent notice to local health and medical institutions on the treatment of pneumonia of unknown cause.
– On December 31, the National Health Commission (NHC) sent out a working group and expert group to Wuhan to offer guidance on handling of the epidemic and investigate on site. On the same day, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission started releasing information on the epidemic.
– On January 3, 2020, China started to send regular, timely updates to the WHO and other countries, including the US.
– On January 20 and 21, a WHO delegation conducted a field visit to Wuhan.
– From February 16 to 24, the China-WHO joint commission, including two US experts, conducted a nine-day field visit in China.
– On March 12, China and WHO held an international briefing on China’s experience in preventing and controlling COVID-19. Representatives of the US embassy in China attended the presentation upon invitation.
– On March 29, the Chinese and US CDCs shared information and experience via video conference.
– China reported the outbreak to WHO, shared the genome sequence of the virus with other countries, and carried out international cooperation to contain the virus, all at the earliest time possible.
It is evident from the above timeline that China has been actively, openly, transparently, and timely sharing information and conducting cooperation, which is an indisputable fact.
While fighting against the outbreak, China ignored all pressures and criticism from the outside world and focused only on one point agenda on how to save human lives and defeat COVID-19. China mobilized all possible national resources and implemented a strict lockdown policy. As a result, China over-came the outbreak and almost eliminated COVID-19. Although China has sacrificed 3000 plus precious human lives and a substantial economic loss but finally succeeded in eliminating COVID-19. China was the first victim of COVID-19, and the only country in the world won a victory against the outbreak.
Now China is helping the rest of the world to over-come the COVID-19. China is supplying medical equipment and supplies, including; Testing-Kits, Ventilators, Masks, Gowns, and Sanitizers, etc. China is sharing its proved-success stories and their experiences with the rest of the world. Chinese experience may serve as guidelines for the rest of the world in their struggle to win against COVID-19.
In fact, China has emerged as a responsible global leader and will play a more significant role in the post-pandemic era. The secret of Chinese success is its dedication, commitment, and focused approach. The visionary leadership, set up priorities and formulated an action plan. Strict measures and implementation of lockdown controlled the further spread of the virus.
I can understand that a strict lockdown is very difficult to implement in the western world, as the public may not compromise on their personal freedom and routine economic activities. But the options available are limited, life or own freedom. Because there is no cure, medicine, or vaccine invented yet, the only possibility at this stage is to keep social distance and stay safe.
Although the virus is not too fatal, but extremely contagious in nature, so we need to compromise on something till the vaccine or medicines or invented. Scientists are working hard all around the world, and few countries have claimed that they are close to success to develop vaccine soon, till that time, keep social distance and stay safe.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan – Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy or views of World Geostrategic Insights).