Report: China's fight against COVID-19 (full text)

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Editor's Note:

This report, the result of an extensive collection of experts' and scholars' opinions as well as a meticulous compilation of authoritative documents, is a public research project by the joint efforts of media groups and scientific research institutions for the express purpose of objective reflection of China's practices and measures to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

Due to time and authorial limits, the research is not perfect and will need continuous updates and improvements, particularly given the rapid changes in the pandemic situation and new progress in the fight against it.

It is best viewed as an early attempt to summarize China's practices in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, a trailblazer in the hope of clearing the path for better ones later, to continue — in the spirit of respecting science, universal rules and common practices — the chronicling of our experience as human beings in overcoming this major infectious disease.

Editorial Team of "China's Fight Against COVID-19"

April 21, 2020

Index

I. Universal consensus and public mobilization

• Timely release of information

• Dissemination of knowledge about prevention and control

• Public opinion guidance and support by mainstream media

• Universal participation with social cohesion

II. Social isolation and traffic control

• City lockdown and transport freeze in hardest-hit areas

• Differentiated traffic controls in less severe areas

• Tactics to prevent social gathering and cross-infections

• Community isolation basic line of defense

III. Screening, testing and dynamic monitoring 

• Thorough screening at communities

• Improving virus testing

• Establishing a dynamic management system

• Intensifying epidemiological investigation

• Handling four groups for specific treatment

IV. Treatment plans and scientific research

• Dual goals of containing the source of infection and extension of treatment

• Better treatment plan and better treatment method

• The positive role of TCM in treatment through preemptive prevention, differentiated medication and multi-target intervention

V. Allocation of resources and guarantee of supplies

• Hubei gets national health workforce support

• Tremendous efforts made in medical supplies manufacturing

• Coordinated allocation of daily necessities

VI. Command system and strategic policies 

• The top decision-making mechanism and fundamental strategies and policies

• Efficient execution mechanisms and comprehensive countermeasures

Glossary 

Experts' view

Acknowledgement 

Abstract

After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese government gave top priority to the fight against the virus and put the people's lives and health before everything. President Xi Jinping has led the whole nation in a people's war of prevention and control against the virus. The "wartime-like" command mechanism and the strategies formulated in accordance with the ground reality offered strong leadership.

The Chinese government has upheld the principle of relying on the people and considered keeping them well informed as a key element to build consensus between the government and the public. Thanks to their social responsibility and trust in the government, the people took an active part in fighting the epidemic with a united will. The flexible and humanized social management and non-medical intervention featured by standard quarantine measures became key factors for containing the spread of the virus. The screening, test and supervision measures and epidemiological investigation proved to be crucial in cutting off the chain of virus transmission. By assorting hospitals based on utility, differentiating patients and the treatments they received based on their conditions, and integrating traditional Chinese medicine into therapy, China sharply decreased the infection rate and fatality rate, and at the same time raised the recovery rate. Meanwhile, China made full use of the advantage of its social system, allocated resources with high efficiency across the country and secured much-needed logistics support. With the whole natione's efforts to fight the battle of protecting Hubei and Wuhan, China has made initial achievements in prevention and control of the virus. Based on its own national situation, China has explored a set of practices and methods in the prevention and control of disease as well as the treatment of patients.

China's Fight Against COVID-19

COVID-19, which has spread rapidly and enveloped most of the world, is a global public health crisis the likes of which we have not seen in a century. After the outbreak, the Chinese government adopted the most comprehensive, stringent and thorough prevention and control measures in an attempt to bring the virus under control. With great courage and will, the spread of the virus has almost been tamed, marking an initial triumph for the country.

As most of the world struggles to cope, China — by analyzing its experiences and summarizing its achievements — has been searching for an optimal approach. The country has been trying to explore a set of practices and approaches that can be effective in curbing the spread of the virus and curing the infected.

China Watch Institute, a China Daily think tank, interviewed more than 60 Chinese and international public health experts and scholars in other fields to compile this report in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary China Studies at Tsinghua University and the School of Health Policy and Management at Peking Union Medical College. This report presents a preliminary summary of what China has achieved in its fight against the virus.