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Visitors in front of a giant flower basket at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on September 30, one day before the National Day./VCG
China is confident it can prevent a new wave of COVID-19 this winter despite the worsening pandemic worldwide and recent surge of new cases within the country, the country's chief epidemiologist said Wednesday.
"Based on the experience from the past 11 months, we are confident we can prevent a recurrence of the epidemic and avoid a severe situation like that in the beginning of 2020," Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a press briefing in Beijing.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at a press briefing in Beijing on Novermber 25./Photo via State Council Information Office
As the northern hemisphere enters winter, the pandemic has worsened in many countries, with an increase of more than 500,000 new cases every day during the past 30 days.
China, which only saw sporadic cases since the epidemic had been basically put under control in April, is facing mounting threat of imported cases from other countries recently.
During the past month, China reported 98 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, which is 7.5 times more than in the previous month, according to Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC).
One after another, sporadic cases have been reported in Shanghai, Anhui, Tianjin and Inner Mongolia lately, adding to the concern that a new wave might be around the corner.
Wu admitted that China is facing great pressure like other countries. But the country has summarized a whole package of preventive measures as to how to detect new cases timely and control the situation within a smallest scope quickly, he said.
The occurrence of sporadic cases is normal under the current situation, he said, adding that it's very difficult to totally avoid it. But China has experienced that in the past 11 months and successfully controlled all cluster infections in different regions, he said.
The country didn't see a rebound of the epidemic even during the week-long National Day holiday, when 60 to 70 million Chinese people travelled across the country, he pointed out.
In two to three months, China will have its Spring Festival travel rush. Wu said that as long as the infected cases are kept away from the crowds, there will be no major outbreak.
He stressed the importance of strict and scientific prevention and control measures that have been mentioned over and again, such as wearing masks, washing hands frequently and social distancing.
