NEWS//China's war on the coronavirus
China has taken its battle against COVID-19 almost as seriously as if the pandemic were an armed invasion of the country.
According to China's reports, remarkably few cases of COVID exist there. And when they do appear, the nation moves swiftly to deal with them.
Swift action
On November 23, seven cases of COVID showed up over four days in Shanghai, a city with over 27,000,000 people. The cases originated at the Pudong Airport. So 17,719 airport workers were tested for the disease. Plans call for testing others in surrounding communities if further cases are detected.
When five COVID cases surfaced in the Binhai district of Tianjin, a city near Beijing, health workers collected more than 2.2 million samples for testing from residents.
The city of Manzhouli, a city of close to 300,000 people, found two cases. Local health authorities began testing every resident. They also shut down all schools and public venues and banned public gatherings such as banquets.
Disease fighting philosophy
Zhang Boli, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Monday that “it is better to check 1,000 more than to miss one case. This is not a waste of resources, but a scientific method, as it can help block the source and route of transmission.”
According to Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China's aim is to bring infections to zero. "The Chinese way of controlling the epidemic means once there is an outbreak, the local government could immediately mobilize entire social resources to detect the scope of infections and reduce the transmission risks," Zeng said.
The Global Times says, "It is the high credibility of the Chinese government and the sense of responsibility of Chinese citizens that makes it possible to roll out massive nucleic acid testing schemes in cities where there have been COVID-19 flare-ups."