Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who went to Wuhan to help guide the prevention and control of COVID-19 after the outbreak, said in an article published in Qiushi Journal that under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, the epidemic has been largely contained in Hubei province.
On Feb 6, an investigation began among 4.21 million households in Wuhan and 6,326 confirmed or suspected cases were discovered. Meanwhile, medics, community workers, and the police assembled to transfer the discovered cases to hospitals. By Feb 16, daily new cases could get treatment once confirmed. Then from Feb 17 to 19, a three-day thorough investigation was conducted, finding out 1,275 confirmed cases, 1,436 suspected cases, and 9,105 people who had close contacts with confirmed cases. From Feb 12 to 19, a total of 23,131 confirmed cases were sent for treatment and no confirmed case was left at home, according to the vice-premier.
A total of 86 designated coronavirus hospitals, 16 newly built makeshift hospitals, and over 530 quarantine sites transformed from hotels, training centers and sanitariums formed an emergency network.
As of March 28, a total of 45,418 cases were cured, accounting for more than 92 percent of all confirmed cases, Sun said in the article.
More than 42,000 medics from other regions and the military rushed to Wuhan within 24 hours after receiving their orders.
In addition, utmost efforts were made to ensure medical supplies in the early stages of the outbreak, through domestic distribution, overseas procurement, and quickened production resumption.
Testing capability was improved, with the testing period reduced from two days to four to six hours, and the daily numbers increasing from 300 kits to 20,000, the article said.
Nineteen provinces were mobilized to send targeted assistance to 16 cities and prefectures of Hubei province outside Wuhan, and effective experiences in Wuhan were introduced to other cities in a timely manner. As a result, the 16 cities and prefectures have reported no new confirmed cases after March 5.
The media also played an important role in the virus control and prevention, producing over 40,000 news items, reporting more than 1,000 typical examples and revealing over 20,000 issues that have been reported to local authorities, according to the article.
Strengthened efforts were made to help enterprises in Hubei resume production, and ensure security and order in designated hospitals and quarantine sites.
A large number of community workers, social organizations, and volunteers, as well as 580,000 Party members, have actively participated in the fight against the virus and made great contributions.
To win the fight, a set of effective measures with Chinese features were applied. For example, makeshift hospitals were built in cities to replenish medical resources in a short time, and traditional Chinese medicine played a vital role in treatment along with Western medicine.
Finally, monitoring on related departments and officials was intensified to improve work and solve problems in prevention and control, Sun said in the article.
