Virus reveals strengths, gaps in health system

Reforms planned to address shortcomings exposed by COVID-19 fight, minister says

China will overhaul its public health system to eliminate gaps exposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, the health minister said on Sunday while noting that significant domestic achievements have been made in fighting the epidemic.

The State Council Information Office released a white paper on fighting COVID-19 on Sunday to share with the world China's experience in fighting the disease, which many countries are now grappling with.

The pandemic, which had thousands of new cases a day in China at its peak in mid-February, has been brought well under control domestically. The number of new confirmed daily cases across the country has remained at double digits or below since early March.

On Saturday, six new confirmed COVID-19 cases, including five imported, were reported on the Chinese mainland, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 83,036, with 4,634 deaths, according to the National Health Commission.

National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei said that by Tuesday, more than 94 percent of all COVID-19 patients in China had recovered, which was higher than the average recovery rate for other viral pneumonias.

The Chinese government has been taking people's lives as the top priority in fighting the epidemic, and it has carried out strategies－such as early testing and isolation of patients and their close contacts, isolating all suspected patients and providing treatment to all patients－that have effectively brought sources of infection under control, Ma said at a news conference at the State Council Information Office.

To counter the outbreak, China mobilized national resources to fight the disease, including sending 42,600 medical workers and more than 900 public health personnel across the country to Hubei province, including its capital Wuhan, to aid medical treatment, said the white paper released on Sunday.

Meanwhile, China has provided free treatment to all COVID-19 patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major test for China, Ma said, but success in fighting the pandemic has proved the country's medical and public health emergency response systems to be effective in general, though the pandemic has revealed some shortcomings.

China will improve the investment procedure in public health to enhance its capacity in disease control and prevention, he said.

Reforming the public health system has been a major topic of discussion following the COVID-19 outbreak in China, with senior legislators and political advisers making proposals during the gathering of China's top legislative and advisory bodies last month.

At a seminar attended by senior experts in Beijing on June 2, President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned to build an empowered public health system and improve the early warning and response system to protect people's health.

In addition, investment in science and technology will be increased for health, and laws regarding infectious disease control and prevention and public health emergency response will be revised or made, Xi said.

Ma said efforts will be taken to increase the ability for disease prevention and control centers to handle acute infectious diseases and other emergencies, and the overall CDC system, from county level to the national level, will be overhauled so CDCs at different levels are clearly defined in their roles and can coordinate smoothly.

Meanwhile, innovation must be made to integrate the disease prevention and control system with hospitals and clinics, so centers for disease control and hospitals can share personnel, information and resources, he said.

"Diseases are normally first spotted and reported at hospitals, so it is necessary for the CDC system to be intertwined with hospitals," Ma said. "We will make integration of disease prevention and treatment a reality, which has been a shortcoming for a long time."