China’s experience in battle against COVID-19 brings hope to the world (2)

Struggle and sacrifice bought world a window of time

Cured coronavirus patients gesture on the bus home after a 14-day quarantine for medical observation at a rehabilitation center in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)

COVID-19 has been the most difficult major public health emergency to contain since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It wreaked havoc on Wuhan in December, with the virus spreading quickly to other Chinese provinces, helped along by the Chinese New Year migration. In its early stages, the number of cases doubled approximately every seven and a half days.

Unprepared for the new virus, the Chinese government took unprecedented countermeasures, with the Chinese president personally directing the outbreak response and devising prevention and control measures from the start. According to a Xinhua report, responding to the epidemic had been on the agenda in a series of Party leadership meetings chaired by Xi since early January, including seven meetings of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. During this period, Xi also convened two teleconferences for officials from across the country, with the largest attended by an unprecedented 170,000 people.

Xi ordered the pooling of the entire country’s resources to tackle the issue, and declared a “people’s war” against the virus. About 42,600 medics were dispatched to Hubei from across the country. Academicians, leading experts on respiratory illnesses and infectious diseases, and one-tenth of the country's intensive care specialists were all called to the epicenter. In Wuhan, 86 hospitals were designated to treat COVID-19 patients, two new hospitals were built from scratch in just two weeks, and 16 exhibition halls and sports venues were converted into makeshift hospitals, opening up 60,000 beds for COVID-19 patients in just one month.

“In the future, there might be effective ways of defeating this deadly virus, but in the earlier days of the outbreak in Wuhan, there were not. It’s all because of the Chinese government’s remarkable ability to lead the people and to mobilize resources that madecurbing the virus possible,” said ZhaXiaogang, a research fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

In addition to the government’s and medical professionals’ unrelenting efforts to tackle the virus, theChinese public and businesses have also shown great understanding for the strict epidemic control measures, including the lockdown of a city with a population of over ten million. In a huge country with a population of 1.4 billion, people acted in an orderly manner. They heeded the government's advice and sacrificed their own needs for the safety of the whole nation, and the whole world.

Medical workers pose for photos after seeing cured patients off at the Wuchang temporary hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)

“I’ve been staying at home for almost three months. I think our sacrifice will provide the world a window of time to control the virus, so that others will not suffer what we have gone through. The government has provided patients free treatment, and as citizens, I think it is our duty to stand in line with our nation under such critical circumstances,” said Wu Chengjuan, a 34-year-old citizen in Wuhan.

Meanwhile, everything from surgical masks to advanced life support systems were sent to the front line, including at least 67 sets of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines and 17,000 ventilators, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in early March.

“Ever since the outbreak, China has lived up to its promises and obligations as a responsible big nation and made a substantial contribution to global public health. Chinese people, especially those living in Wuhan, Hubei Province, have made historical sacrifices to help make the world a safer place from corona virus.” Said Su Ge, chairman of the Beijing-based China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with visiting World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 28, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

During his meeting with the WHO Director-General in January, Xi noted that the Chinese government has released information on the epidemic in a timely, open, transparent and responsible manner, responded to concerns of all sides actively, and enhanced cooperation with the international community.

"The epidemic is a devil. We will not let it hide," said Xi.

China and its people’s heroic endeavors have been praised by the international community. WHO officials said this truly "all-of-government and all-of-society" approach has averted or at least delayed hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 cases in the country, while the “serious measures” taken in China not only protected Chinese people, but also prevented the spread of the virus to other nations.

Recounting his experience leading WHO experts on a nine-day joint mission investigating COVID-19 in China, Canadian epidemiologist Bruce Aylward commended the readiness of Chinese medical institutions.

"If I had COVID-19, I'd want to be treated in China," he said. "They know and they care about keeping people alive, and they do it successfully."

Zhao Tong and Xian Jiangnan contributed to the story.