WHO expert lauds role of China's system in containing COVID-19

In an interview with BBC, Dr. Gauden Galea, a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), highlighted the effectiveness of China's system in coping with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

When asked if China covered up information, silenced doctors and failed to warn the public in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, Dr. Galea called on the public to "look at both achievements that have been made, as well as the cost that has been paid" in China's battle against the COVID-19.

Dr. Galea visited central China's Wuhan City, the epicenter of the outbreak, and saw firsthand what the front line against the virus looks like.

Graphics: How many medical personnel and supplies have come to Wuhan since the coronavirus outbreak?

"The country itself has already announced that there were shortcomings. Those shortcomings were not necessarily the part of the epidemiological investigation," he noted, adding that the WHO-China Joint Mission looked deeply into how the virus spread and how severe is the disease.

The joint team, comprising international and Chinese experts, wrapped up its visit to China on February 24.

China's stringent measures, such as sealing off cities and ordering people to stay in their homes, changed the course of the outbreak, with a decline that is now occurring sooner than expected, Bruce Aylward, who led the 25-member group briefed reporters on the team's experiences and findings.

Medical workers cheer for each other in the ICU of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, January 24, 2020. /Xinhua

China's uncompromising and rigorous use of non-pharmaceutical measures to contain the COVID-19 in multiple settings provides vital lessons for the global response, said the Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

When asked if the lack of transparency put global health at a greater risk, the expert said that the concerted national effort, at the top level of the government, flattened the epidemic. "China's own system can cope better and gained the time for other countries to learn those lessons and not to have to face that same issue."

He further pointed out that the WHO team had weekly meetings and looked into the details of what had been done.

"We see the response of the Chinese people, not the Chinese government, as such," he emphasized and spoke highly of the Chinese medical personnel on the frontline.

(Cover: Screenshot of the interview footage)