Editor's note: While America and Europe have been caught flat-footed by the rampaging coronavirus epidemic, some Asian countries, most notably China, South Korea, and Singapore have so far had a much better record keeping it under control. Kee Park, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and also a consultant for the World Health Organization, shares his views with CGTN on why these countries have been more successful in dealing with the COVID-19. The video reflects the expert's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

CGTN: What do these countries have in common in terms of measures taken?

Park: It's a strong public health government where they implemented these interventions nationwide. So you need strong governance and leadership.

Then they started testing widely. I think that's fairly a common thread where testing is the cornerstone of containment.
And then the building capacity was slowing down the surge of patients through social distancing, and then a treatment capacity. 

CGTN: However, the U.S. Trump administration has repeatedly criticized China for its response to the outbreak. What do you think of the criticism?

Park: There's always going to be criticism; there are always going to be people who use policies of other countries and say it's not good enough or it's too drastic, right? It's all politicized. And once again, it's not helpful. And yes, there were some issues at the beginning with trying to figure out, is this an outbreak or not? Is it a new virus?

But after recognizing that this is a novel virus, a new disease, the actions of the Chinese government, I think will get praised historically.

I think they've taken unprecedented action, and that no one can argue with the fact that they've been able to contain (the epidemic).

And it took massive action and involved millions of people. If you talk to WHO, their assessment is that the Chinese government has taken appropriate action. The overall Chinese response from a public health standpoint was effective.

Every country will do the best they can with what they have, given the circumstances. And they might not agree with the policies, but at the end of the day, it's the results, right? It's, "where you were able to blunt that curve?" And then people will see that's what we need to do to get what we are now.

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