Editor's note: On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and as of Saturday (June 20), about 200 countries and regions have confirmed over 8,385,000 cases, according to the WHO. On CGTN's live program "COVID-19 Frontline," we invited workers and experts from China and other parts of the world to share their experiences and take questions from social media, in the hope of providing more information for those who are battling against the pandemic.

In the latest episode of CGTN's live stream program "COVID-19 Frontline" held on Friday, June 19, experts from China and Zambia in the fields of health, business and education exchanged ideas on how to resume work while fighting COVID-19.

Live: China and Zambia share experience on work resumption amid COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many countries have started to resume production and implement regular epidemic prevention and control measures. As of now, there are 1,430 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Zambia with 11 deaths and 84,494 confirmed cases in China, according to the Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus resource center.

What should enterprises do when resuming work and production?

Isaac Ngulube, public health specialist with the Ministry of Health in Zambia, asked about how enterprises should prepare to gradually get back to work safely during the pandemic.

Feng Gengzhong, dean of the School of Management at the Xi'an Jiaotong University, reckons it's important to establish a national big data management system. Every citizen in China has a health code on their phone, which is able to show whether someone poses a contagion risk. If it's a green code, it means its holder can move about unrestricted. If with a red code, the holder might be a virus carrier and needs to be quarantined.

Sun Deming, general manager of the Overseas Division of Lovol Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., added that an enterprise's internal countermeasures can be of several aspects. First, an epidemic prevention and control coordination organization should be established with its senior executives invovled. Second, have precise and practical guidelines for prevention, which include disinfection and temperature checking. Every employee is required to strictly follow these guidelines. Third, inspection and supervision should be in place to ensure that the prevention rules are properly understood and implemented. Employees' families should also be invovled in the preventive measures.

Cooperation between China and Zambia during the pandemic

Lubinda Haabazoka, president of the Economics Association of Zambia, said economic policies have been introduced to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 on the global economy. He wanted to know how China and Zambia are going to cooperate under the new normal.

Liao Zibin, general manager of the Zambia-China Economic & Trade Cooperation Zone, said in the background of COVID-19 pandemic, it's necessary to keep social distancing. In fact, it also brings an opportunity for the Zambia-China Economic & Trade Cooperation Zone to better develop e-commerce in Zambia and throughout Africa. "Many organic agricultural products, such as honey, coffee in Africa can get access to the huge Chinese market. It's part of the digital economy and it will definitely transform Zambians way to do business and shop in their daily lives," Liao said.

Feng said that it's necessary to have a good e-commerce logistics system. In China, the of whole society did not stop working when everyone stayed at home during the outbreak, among which Chinese express companies and logistics companies played an important role. They sent vegetables, food, medicine and other daily necessities to homes. In the past 20 years, China's logistics enterprises have developed very fast. "It's necessary to improve the logistics system in Zambia. I believe that Chinese enterprises can cooperate more with Zambia in this regard," Feng said.

Impact of the pandemic on agriculture

Zhao Yutao, vice president of Jiangsu University, said the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on global agriculture is very big, especially in Africa. He said according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the COVID-19 epidemic could push 49 million more people to the poverty stage. So safeguarding everyone's access to food is essential and agriculture science and technology should be promoted.

"Intelligent agricultural equipment plays an increasingly critical role in ensuring food security," Zhao said. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) technology in seed dropping, fertilization and spraying are increasingly applied in the cultivation of agricultural crops. It is suggested that China and Zambia should strengthen cooperation in agricultural science and technology. Chinese universities can organize some training in agricultural tools with relevant organizations in Zambia to promote the popularization and application of agricultural technologies.

How are hospitals responding to the COVID-19 epidemic?

Shi Bingyin, dean and class A chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of XJTU, said doctors in his hospital need to work on Saturdays as well so more patients could be treated and avoid patients crowding. In addition, improvement has been made in Chinese hospitals to make such tests as CT scans, MRI and ultrasound checks much easier now.

Medical service online has been very effective during the epidemic. Patients are encouraged to consult doctors online. "In the future, we can have more communication through online hospitals," Shi said.

In later episodes of "COVID-19 Frontline," more frontline doctors and experts from Wuhan will join in to share their experience with their colleagues from other parts of the world. If you have any questions regarding COVID-19, you can share with us using #MyOpinionOnCOVID19 on Facebook.

Videos by Zhang Rongyi

Cover image by Du Chenxin