IN a milestone development that brings a moment of much-needed relief in the coronavirus pandemic, China this week reported that it has no new local cases. While 39 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in mainland China, all of them are ‘overseas transmissions’ carried by international travellers entering the country. This means that China’s containment measures were successful and that it was able to effectively ‘flatten the curve’ — a term widely being used by experts which refers to slowing down the projected number of people who will contract Covid-19 over a period of time. A flatter curve assumes that the same number of people get infected, but over a longer period of time, which eases the burden on hospitals and medical staff.

As China documents fewer cases, it presents an opportunity for the world to learn lessons — both good and bad. To evaluate the country’s approach to the pandemic, it is essential to look at the facts: between the end of December and mid-March, China reported over 81,000 confirmed cases with a death toll of 3,255. The regime responded to rapidly rising cases with a dramatic lockdown and enforced isolation — measures which initially were met with criticism around the globe. For instance, the world expressed shock at the authorities’ decision to shut down Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak with a population of 11m, as experts were sceptical about the success and viability of what is possibly the biggest quarantine exercise in modern history. China was criticised as authoritarian as it went further and locked down the entire Hubei province of 60m in a dramatic show of power. But while the regime’s draconian measures became the focus of headlines, the country’s decisions to build temporary hospitals, deploy scores of medical workers, establish wide-scale screening and isolate infected individuals appear to have contributed largely to its successful response. In fact, its authoritarianism and initial lack of transparency — which included threats to those who tried to raise the alarm about Covid-19 early on — are factors which led to major deficiencies and the subsequent outbreak.

Here, it is important to look at the success of containment in South Korea, where transparency, openness and effective public-health decisions have been at the core of the response. After the 2015 outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, during which South Korea recorded 186 cases and 38 deaths, the country revamped its response systems to respiratory infections. Although Korea was criticised for its poor response to MERS, lessons learnt then were adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic: mass production of test kits, adequately equipped hospitals, infection control units, hygiene awareness campaigns and technological innovations. Its dedication to act early, make testing available and affordable, keep the public informed, trace and isolate and communicate social distancing kept the spread and death rate low. World leaders would do well to follow South Korea and China’s example.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2020