Opinion | A borderless fight against COVID-19: What can we learn from mainland China?

By Dr. Karl So, Doctorate of Business Administration

The word of COVID-19 brainwashed the world for 10 months, bringing stress and anxiety to everyone. I believe none of us would like this virus among us any longer. Some countries put a lot of effort to get it under control, and at the same time, some countries have applied different policies they think will be a benefit to the most. As China was one of the earliest countries encountering the virus, some policies applied were also first to the world, that simply demonstrated the possible ways to overcome the pandemic.

When it was still at the discovery stage at the beginning of the year, politics spread faster than solutions. The argument of naming, locating the origin, and even whether it is artificial or natural: all these are not helping to control the virus in the right way. When everyone else is confused and lost of focus, China handled the virus by "science comes first." The Chinese government and its medical team, led by Pulmonologist, Prof. Zhong Nanshan, using sciences and researches to provide the right direction for decision-makers. Even though the team had experience in 2003 during SARS, the people, society, and technologies are far more different today. By using big data and information technology to track down carriers and potential infected, quarantine, isolation, and monitoring the entire process. Facts and numbers speak louder than anything else.

Applying the right policy at the right time in the right way is also another milestone during this battle. The Chinese government decided to lock down cites at the beginning of the spreading, sharp cut at the city border to stop spreading from provinces to provinces. By doing so, the right way is also applied to minimize panics, such as rotating supplies from other provinces, only allowing dedicated personnel to deliver within controlled areas, making sure there are enough suppliers for 11m people for an unknown period of lockdown. Spreading was under control in only a matter of weeks, while total lockdown was only 2 months 2 weeks and 2 days. Citizens were resumed normal activities and even going back to their working provinces since the Chinese New Year.

The rest of the world believes China was paying a very high cost to lockdown WuHan, as it is the heart of the commercial and industrial center. Most countries were afraid of applying a similar policy because they did not realize it is necessary. China's government and citizens realized if the situation was not able to get under control, the price to pay will be far more serious. The cost is not just managing the lockdown but also the aftermath of it, such as unemployment because of business closure, increase in crime rate, and more unexpected cost. China had already re-bouncing in the economy while the western world dwelling in an extremely high unemployment rate.

During the 77-day lockdown, China had demonstrated the world on how to control the pandemic. Countries following such as Italy, Singapore, Malaysia had confirmed cases maintained at a low and constant level. But Chinese government and its medical team did not stop at treating the infected. They kept gathering scientific researches on the coronavirus, getting DNA sequences, chasing for vaccine development and the best part is sharing that information to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The core value of Chinese culture is harmony and benevolence. China had once again put politics down. Instead, science comes first where solutions are driven by knowledge and experiences. China won't care about any prove-less accusation. We are still demonstrating the right way with results to the world. While we can learn from succeeding, why following those who already failed in many ways by "politics comes first" and making decisions without scientific supports and pointing fingers to others. The true human rights are letting people have a life, not losing lives.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.