COVID-19 and China: Lessons and the Way Forward
COVID19 - CORONAVIRUS, 27 Jul 2020
Editorial | The Lancet - TRANSCEND Media Service
25 Jul 2020 – China has largely controlled COVID-19. A country of 1·4 billion people and a size similar to Europe or the USA now reports only clusters of cases rather than widespread community transmission. China has been widely criticised for its role and responsibilities during the pandemic because of censorship, transparency, and human rights concerns. But the rest of the world can still learn from China’s successes in bringing its outbreak under control.
China’s response shows the importance of domestic research and public health capacity. Huge investments have left China much better prepared for COVID-19 than for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). When SARS broke out in 2002, China was unprepared initially, especially as the pathogen was unknown. When COVID-19 emerged in December, 2019, Chinese scientists were quickly able to identify the virus and shared genomic sequencing data internationally on Jan 11, 2020.
Copyright © 2020 Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images
By the end of January, doctors from mainland China and Hong Kong had characterised the clinical features of patients with COVID-19, person-to-person transmission, genomic characteristics, and epidemiology, warning the world about the threat of COVID-19 with research papers published in The Lancet. China has also been at the forefront of vaccine research, with promising results of early trials of a recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine developed in China published in The Lancet in May and July. Such research was done incredibly fast and rigorously through close cooperation within China at a time of national emergency. For other countries, particularly low-income and middle-income countries, China’s experience shows the importance of investing in national health and research systems to enhance laboratory capacity as well as workforce. They are fundamental to a quick and effective national response to health emergencies and to global health security.
A second lesson is that a robust foundation of research cannot guarantee effective control without strong top-level political commitment to use science to tackle the outbreak decisively. Governments and their leaders must respect science, understand its value, and act on it in a way that is best for society. China’s National Health Commission sent three groups of national infectious disease experts to Wuhan at the beginning of the outbreak to investigate the risks and transmission of COVID-19, and their recommendations informed the decision to lockdown Wuhan on Jan 23. When Chen Wang, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and colleagues saw the need for Fangcang shelter hospitals, the government was quick to respond.
Third, achieving rapid and effective implementation of control measures for COVID-19 requires broad community engagement. Community solidarity has been unprecedented during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Control measures that could sacrifice individual freedom, like mandatory mask-wearing in public areas, were accepted readily by the public. Millions of China’s community workers have “built the first line of defense against COVID-19”, according to Xinhua News Agency, in their work to provide essential health checks and support for people with fever, severe diseases, pregnant women, and those quarantined at home. There are tensions between freedom and security that each country has to reckon with, and some of China’s approaches to surveillance, for example, would not be acceptable elsewhere. But China’s experiences show the importance of community solidarity and what it can achieve.
So, there are lessons for health to learn from China. But how will Chinese and global health communities work together in the future? China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that globalisation needs to be more inclusive and beneficial to all, that multilateralism must be safeguarded and promoted even more firmly, and that global governance needs to be reformed and improved where it is most lacking. The health community is waiting to see if China will become a multilateral leader in global health, what role it wants in international global health security, and whether it will aspire to fill the vacuum in global health left by the USA.
China is facing legitimate questions in many areas of its domestic and foreign policy, but when it comes to COVID-19, scapegoating China for the pandemic is not a constructive response. “Now is the time for global leaders to decide: will we succumb to chaos, division and inequality? Or will we right the wrongs of the past and move forward together, for the good of all?”, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres asked in his 2020 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. Tackling a global health emergency like a pandemic requires open collaboration. The lack of global solidarity to address COVID-19 amid geopolitical instability is a threat to us all.
_________________________________________________
Editorial| Volume 396, ISSUE 10246, P213, July 25, 2020
Go to Original – thelancet.com
Tags: Airborne contagion, Brain, COVID-19, China, Community, Compassion, Coronavirus, Cuba, Economy, Empathy, Environment, Health, Lockdown, Pandemic, Public Health, Research, Science, Science and Medicine, Semen, Sharing, Sperm, Trade, United Nations, WHO, World
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
2 Responses to “COVID-19 and China: Lessons and the Way Forward”
Read more
Click here to go to the current weekly digest or pick another article:
COVID19 - CORONAVIRUS:
I get very annoyed by the pretence that the USA/UK and some others are somehow “free” and their government is democratic because they have elections from time to time and the people are to a certain extent allowed to speak out and move about. Criticism of China, or Russia, Cuba or Iran always brings in the “human rights” argument, as if the huge incarceration rate, police violence, stealing of property by police who stop motorists and all the other daily events we know are part of the US “freedom” ad to a lesser extent in the poodles like Australia and Canada.
Some countries actually provide services like education, health, housing and the population actually votes for these governments eg in Venezuela, but the USA never supports such wicked “authoritarians”.
I get very annoyed by the pretence that the USA/UK and some others are somehow “free” and their government is democratic because they have elections from time to time and the people are to a certain extent allowed to speak out and move about. Criticism of China, or Russia, Cuba or Iran always brings in the “human rights” argument, as if the huge incarceration rate, police violence, stealing of property by police who stop motorists and all the other daily events we know are part of the US “freedom” and to a lesser extent in the poodles like Australia and Canada.
Some countries actually provide services like education, health, housing and the population actually votes for these governments eg in Venezuela, but the USA never supports such wicked “authoritarians”.
My name got cut off from the comment, so I re-submit