World can still learn from China’s successes in curbing COVID-19 outbreak: The Lancet

Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA |  China has largely controlled COVID-19, and the rest of the world can still learn from China’s successes in bringing its outbreak under control, according to the latest editorial by medical journal The Lancet.

China’s response shows the importance of domestic research and public health capacity, said the editorial.

Chinese scientists were quickly able to identify the virus and shared genomic sequencing data internationally shortly after COVID-19 emerged, said the article.

A staff member conducts disinfection at a hospital in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Song Yanhua)

By the end of January, doctors from China had characterized the clinical features of patients with COVID-19, person-to-person transmission, genomic characteristics, and epidemiology, warning the world about the threat of COVID-19 with research papers published in The Lancet.

China has also been at the forefront of vaccine research, with promising results of early trials of a recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine developed in China published in The Lancet in May and July, read the article.

Meanwhile, achieving rapid and effective implementation of control measures for COVID-19 requires broad community engagement, and community solidarity “has been unprecedented during the COVID-19 outbreak in China.”

The article also said that tackling a global health emergency like a pandemic requires open collaboration, and when it comes to COVID-19, “scapegoating China for the pandemic is not a constructive response.”

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