Shanghai to build world-class public health emergency system

Shanghai will strive to establish a world-class public health emergency system, according to a guideline released by the municipal government on Wednesday.

The guideline, which is aimed at improving the city's public health emergency system as well as its emergency response to epidemics by 2025, came after the city's announcement that it would build a world-class public health system.

On Tuesday, Shanghai's Party Secretary Li Qiang pointed out at a conference that the construction of an excellent public health system in a megacity like Shanghai is an extremely important and urgent task as it is related to people's well-being, economic development and social stability.

"Shanghai should not only consolidate its current achievements, but also focus on improving the system and mechanism of major epidemic prevention and the public health emergency management in the long term," Li said.

Zong Ming, vice-mayor of Shanghai, attributed the city's success in curbing the spread of COVID-19 to a highly centralized and unified management system, application of digital and intelligent science to pinpoint potential public health threats, and a sound emergency response system.

"We are planning on building a public health emergency command center and we hope more think-tanks will be involved in the process," Zong said on Wednesday during a news conference in Shanghai.

Zhang Wenhong, director of Huashan Hospital's department of infectious disease, also said at the conference that Shanghai has responded well to the pandemic, but a more comprehensive network will enhance the city's capability to deal with similar emergencies in the future.

"We have responded well to SARS, H5N1 and H7N1 because of our highly efficient urban management. Every time an epidemic occurs, we gain some experience and see the need to update our prevention and control system. The more complete we are, the less we will lose track of infection cases," Zhang said.