On the evening of January 30th, local time, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, held a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, explaining that the pneumonia epidemic in novel coronavirus has constituted a "public health emergency of international concern". Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that WHO does not approve or even oppose a travel or trade ban on China.
Since the outbreak, the international community has paid close attention to it. China’s response has won praise from the world, and countries have acted quickly to overcome the difficulties.
The China system is very effective.
"The challenge is enormous, and China’s response is impressive." According to the BBC website, Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergency Project, praised China’s response to the novel coronavirus epidemic.
CNN said that the China administration’s response to the epidemic was unprecedented and may not be realized in other countries — — China has imposed a blockade on nearly 60 million people and imposed full or partial travel restrictions on more than a dozen cities in Hubei Province. Major cities have launched the highest level of emergency response, set up checkpoints on roads, and screened passengers at airports and railway stations … … CBS reported that China launched an all-out campaign to fight the epidemic. Doctors treated patients day and night, and the military arrived in Wuhan to provide material support.
Spain’s "National News" website noticed that in Wuhan, a hospital was completed in less than 10 days, and the second emergency hospital also started construction.
"The China system is very effective in a crisis situation. It can take measures that require strong human and material resources and a well-functioning hierarchical system. " In an interview with the German newspaper Le Monde, China of Bertelsmann Foundation and bernhard Barchi, a senior expert in the Asia-Pacific region, commented on China’s initiative.
Zhou Rui, chairman of the French "Bridge" think tank and an expert on emerging economies, pointed out that at a critical juncture, China chose to close almost the whole of Hubei Province — — Almost equivalent to the size of France — — It has protected all countries in the world from the greater intrusion of the epidemic.
The World Health Organization praised that China has always adhered to the principle of openness and transparency, released information in a timely manner, quickly identified viruses and shared gene sequences, and adopted decisive and effective measures to control the spread of the epidemic, which not only reflected a high degree of responsibility for the lives and health of its own people, but also strongly supported global disease prevention and control.
Open and transparent to overcome the difficulties
In addition to taking extraordinary measures to prevent the export of cases, China identified pathogens at an unprecedented speed and shared the relevant virus gene sequences with the World Health Organization and other countries for the first time, which made it possible to develop a rapid virus detection tool.
According to Reuters news, the Russian Consulate in Guangzhou revealed that Russia and China are cooperating to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
According to the website of the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian scientists are the first to cultivate novel coronavirus outside China, hoping that this breakthrough will speed up diagnosis and help vaccine research and development. According to the report, it is expected that the cultivated virus will be used for antibody detection, so that the virus can be detected when the patient has not developed symptoms and therefore does not know that he is carrying the virus. It will also be used to test the effectiveness of experimental vaccines.
The Financial Times website reported that in China, Clover Biopharmaceutical Company plans to develop a vaccine based on the key protein in coronavirus, and put a candidate vaccine into trial in just a few weeks. The goal of the Oslo-based Innovation Alliance for Epidemic Prevention is that at least one candidate vaccine that can prevent coronavirus infection can be put into the first phase of clinical trials within 16 weeks to test the human tolerance to it.
"The search for vaccines benefited from the decision of the China government to release detailed information of coronavirus as soon as possible, which enabled scholars and pharmaceutical companies around the world to study its genome sequence." The Financial Times website pointed out. Russian newspaper quoted Russian officials and experts as saying that China showed unprecedented openness, which greatly helped disease research. According to the Guardian, compared with the SARS period, China is developing in a more open direction.
Take the initiative to ease concerns.
Whether the epidemic will have an impact on the world economy in 2020 has aroused widespread concern.
In an article published on January 30th in The New York Times, USA, "The world quickly realizes how dependent it is on China", it is pointed out that now, Japan is preparing for possible shocks, and the Federal Reserve is "closely watching" the changes in the situation. As the world’s largest source of tourism revenue tightens its borders, hotels and travel agencies all over Asia are worried.
However, many people remain optimistic. The article on the website of the Financial Times pointed out that no epidemic has caused a long-term reversal of market trends. The market rebound in 2003 was swift and violent. The global stock market rose by nearly 30% for the whole year.
Jennifer mckeown of the London Consulting Group also believes that the global economic growth in the second quarter of 2003 dropped by a full percentage point due to the epidemic of SARS. However, it quickly made up for the fundamentals of the economy, and it is difficult to list any lasting damage caused by SARS to global economic activities and global GDP.
China’s initiative has also eased the world’s worries. CNBC, an American financial website, said that after China took stricter measures and set up a high-level leading group, investors’ panic seemed to be ebbing. Bank of America, an investment bank, said that in the new crisis, China has been more proactive in updating the situation. To some extent, China’s response eased the concern that the epidemic might have a serious global impact.
The world has confidence in China. As Singaporean Foreign Minister Wei Wen said, compared with the fight against SARS in 2003, China’s technology, experience and ability to meet such challenges have been significantly improved. New Zealand is full of confidence that China will finally defeat the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Dr Jeremy Faller, chairman of Wellcome Foundation and an infectious disease expert, said: "China is setting a new benchmark for the response to the epidemic, and we should thank China." (Reporter Zhang Hong)