BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday visited Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, to inspect the epidemic prevention and control work, as the number of new coronavirus cases has dropped sharply thanks to a raft of unprecedented measures rarely seen in history.
The daily increase of new coronavirus cases on the Chinese mainland fell from thousands in February to 19 on Monday.
The spread of the novel coronavirus disease has been basically curbed in Hubei Province and Wuhan, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, during his inspection.
The significant progress of China's outbreak control is encouraging and reassuring. It brings hope and lessons to the ongoing global fight against the novel coronavirus disease, which has been reported in more than 100 countries and regions.
Drawing on its institutional strength, China's decisive measures to control the outbreak are enlightening, as the world is at a crucial time of containing its spread to save lives.
China declared a total war against the virus and made it the top priority, relying on the people and a united response. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, people from all walks of life have joined hands in fighting the epidemic with wisdom, action and morale.
Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province, went on lockdown after the outbreak, while 42,000 medics rushed to Hubei from the rest of the country. China built two makeshift hospitals in less than two weeks in Wuhan, activated the top-level response in most areas within a few days, and organized the pairing-up support of 19 provincial-level regions for cities of the province, among a slew of brave, swift and intensive measures.
These measures have proved effective. As of Monday, Hubei accounted for 84 percent of the total of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, while the remainder were scattered across 30 other provincial-level regions.
All these are vivid manifestations of China's system advantage, which ensures the whole country works together and stimulates the enthusiasm of all aspects to mobilize resources for major undertakings like poverty reduction, disaster relief, key technologies and large infrastructure projects.
Just as the country tackled the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak and the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the institutional strength will continue playing a key role in enabling China to secure a decisive victory against COVID-19. While China protects the health of its 1.4 billion people, it contributes greatly to the global fight as well. Those who have used the virus to make racist remarks or smear China's system and tremendous efforts are immoral and despicable.
To tackle major deadly viruses and safeguard global public health, China also provides a useful lesson through its methods, such as early detection, isolation and admission, quarantine of close contacts, grassroots community-based prevention, and the reduction of public gatherings, in the battle against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, in the spirit of building a community with a shared future for humanity, China has shown great transparency and openness in its cooperation with the international community regarding the outbreak.
China has shared with the World Health Organization and other countries key information about the virus and experience in control and prevention. China welcomed aid from abroad among severe protective gear shortages and, in return, donated materials, money and even dispatched personnel to help other countries control the disease despite the battle at home not yet being over.
Bruce Aylward, team leader of the China-WHO joint mission on COVID-19, told The New York Times that China's counterattack can be replicated but requires speed, money, imagination and political courage.
With massive efforts since late January, China has achieved impressive progress and is anticipating a final victory against COVID-19. And the same hope goes for the global fight, which requires solidarity, cooperation and action.
