On 6 April 2020, a webinar on COVID-19 response was held between European and Asian countries at the initiative of the European Commission. Health experts from China, Germany, Republic of Korea and Singapore attended the conference and had an in-depth exchange of views with representatives of European countries such as France, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Greece, Croatia and Luxembourg as well as the European Commission, European Medicines Agency, European Union Aviation Safety Agency and other agencies.
Dr. Wu Zunyou, Chief Epidemiologist at China CDC, said that China has adopted the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough response measures since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. China promptly set up a multi-tiered grid-based response system involving the central and local governments as well as all stakeholders, with communities serving as a most important defense line against the outbreak. The principle of early detection, reporting, isolation and treatment has been followed from the very beginning. With the concerted efforts of people across the country, China has turned the tide and achieved initial success in the battle against the outbreak. Now China is closely monitoring new developments in the outbreak, managing to resume business activities while promoting epidemic control, and seeking to enhance international cooperation, with a view to contributing positively to the global response to the pandemic.
Dr. Wu and other Chinese experts answered questions in details about the Chinese government’s guidance on wearing masks, criteria for determining suspected cases, asymptomatic infections, health standards of people returning to work, etc.
Experts from Germany, Republic of Korea and Singapore also shared information about the outbreak in their countries, their response measures, and their assessment of how the outbreak may evolve.
The representatives at the conference thanked the experts for sharing their experience and believed that the valuable experience would play an important role in helping the countries concerned do better in their response endeavor.