Building a strong global network for pandemic prevention

By He Yin

For the last few days, the international society has taken stronger and coordinated actions in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. To carry out effective joint prevention and control, all-out efforts, as well as regional and global cooperation are needed, because this will pool wisdom and energy for improving efficacy and confidence amid the outbreak, and guarantee the global victory over the pandemic at an early date.

“This is a virus that respects no borders. The outbreak we are battling is our common enemy. All must work together to build a strongest global network of control and treatment that the world has ever seen,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit in Beijing.

China has accumulated convincing experience in collective prevention and control. After the outbreak of the epidemic, China built a networked and all-round multi-layer joint prevention and control system involving the central and local governments. The strong defense line has played an important role in helping the country rapidly stabilize the epidemic situation and achieve phased achievements in epidemic containment.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) noted, China has adopted “an all-of-government and all-of-society approach”, which has “changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic.”

China’s prevention and control measures have interrupted coronavirus transmission, cut off infection channels for vulnerable people, and saved hundreds of thousands of people from infection, according to a recent report published on Science magazine by scientists from the U.S., the UK, and China.

It is exactly based on these achievements that the WHO believes that China’s experience on successful joint prevention and control is worth learning from.

International cooperation on joint prevention and control is indispensable for containing the rapid global spread of COVID-19, and decisive for the world to secure a victory over the pandemic.

COVID-19 is threatening the whole of humanity, and the whole of humanity must fight back, said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He called on the international society to jointly take all necessary measures to cope with the pandemic, and asked G20 members to take coordinated actions.

“History will not remember us kindly if we fail to work together,” World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo said.

The world has become increasingly aware that only by establishing the strongest prevention and control network can countries make concerted efforts against the pandemic and contain its spread as soon as possible.

To prevent and control the pandemic, the world needs to facilitate communication and promote cooperation, particularly maintaining effective communication and coordination on information disclosure, sharing of control and treatment experiences, vaccine and drug R&D efforts, border and port control, facilitation for smooth trade flow, and ensuring of global industrial and supply chain stability.

The China-proposed establishment of regional emergency liaison mechanisms will enable quicker response to public health emergencies. In a joint statement released at the Extraordinary G20 Leaders' Summit, G20 economies pledged to present a “united front” against the common threat posed by COVID-19, and launch a transparent, robust, coordinated, large-scale and science-based global response in the spirit of solidarity. The statement marks another important step of the world toward the right direction.

China remains a highly responsible doer in propelling global epidemic prevention and control. The country mapped the coronavirus genome and shared it with the WHO at the first opportunity, and informed relevant parties of the epidemic information. Its efforts have earned valuable time for the world.

The country has also shared its containment experience with relevant countries, conducted joint research and development of drugs and vaccines, and provided assistance where it can to countries hit by the outbreak. It supports the international society in strengthening policy coordination and increasing input of resources, especially in helping developing countries with weak public health systems build up their epidemic-prevention abilities.

China has set up an online COVID-19 knowledge center that is open to all countries, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to the world. The country also proposed the establishment of a China-ASEAN public health emergency liaison mechanism, and a joint response and cooperation mechanism on COVID-19 with the Republic of Korea.

China has always carried out international cooperation with a high sense of responsibility, actively promoted international joint prevention and control, and been responsible for the health and well-being of the people of the world at bilateral, regional and global levels.

The current situation is still grim as the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading globally. Only by cooperation can countries build an unbreakable great wall of pandemic prevention. In this decisive battle to safeguard human lives, countries must work together to build the strongest joint prevention and control network and accelerate joint research and development of specific medicines, vaccines and tests, so as to strive to achieve breakthroughs that benefit all mankind at an early date.