Daily Times

When a nation faces unprecedented challenges, people explore hidden reserves of courage and resilience to demonstrate to the world and to multiply their abilities to fight all odds. Nations rise and shine in difficult times, with men and women together rebuild and march forward. Valued and respected globally, China’s rapid disaster management response in the outbreak of coronavirus, named officially as COVID-19, is amazingly swift,having appropriate professionalism by Chinese health professionals fighting at the front line like heroes.

With the rise in global infections, the death toll has climbed to more than 5,000 and the “one in a century pathogen” has spread its wings in every continent except Antarctica; countries are learning from the Chinese experience once again. The Chinese nation is coming out resilient with reduction in the number of confirmed cases; there are many people who have been discharged from hospitals. Some historic health initiatives have been taken, including world’s first lung transplant, building in record time hospitals dedicated to COVID-19, quarantining entire cities and province against the outbreak, and many more.

History is evolving right before our eyes, and the stories of resilience and strength coming from China are giving us hope for a better future. Since writing of these lines, it has been reported by the Chinese local news that there has not been any new case transmitted in the Hubei province, the epicentre of the pandemic, for the third consecutive day. China’s heroic fight against COVID 19, now considered as a pandemic, is a model for other countries to follow in their fight against this outbreak. Indeed, the stringent actions of the Chinese government have put tremendous burden on the residents of Hubei and the neighbouring provinces, but time has proven that the Chinese model of tackling coronavirus was the only way forward to save humanity from this menace.

With the all-weather friendship between Pakistan and China, cooperation during these tough times truly reflect that. There are a lot of lessons and inspiration to be drawn from the Chinese experience for Pakistan.

Who could have imaginedin Decemberthat people in the bustlingcity of Wuhan would be hit so hard.Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the Wuhan Central Hospital, begin receiving scores of people with strange symptoms of acute pneumonia, mostly working in the Wuhan animal market. With symptomsaggravating and showing signs of human-to-human transmission, Dr Li Wenliang raised the alarm to the authorities about the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) like symptoms,resulting in the early quarantine of many patients and in the rapid response from the state machinery. As a result,what could have been a huge disaster for the world, was avoided with a quick response from China.

Globally, the Chinese approach to handle the outbreak is being studied. At the very outset of the outbreak, China put a comprehensive ban and quarantine on all social and economic activities. Even knowing the fact that this may cause a severe economic damage, of which the signs have been emerging, the spirit was to save the world from this dangerous epidemic. Currently,the Chinese economy is moving at a very slow pace, but the ambitious efforts and sheer determination of the Chinese government to tackle the global pandemic has placed it at the top of the comity of nations.

It is imperative to mention that the people of China stood by their government in their fight against probably the most daunting challenge in the history of modern China. Chinese doctors are working round the clock, with selfless motivation and heroic enthusiasm to fight and win the battle against COVID. While hospitals have been built in matters of days, there were people who donated money for the great cause of saving humanity anonymously, including a viral video of a young man donating supplies toworkers, are the few of the examples that the world will remember.

According to WHO’s report, “China’s bold approach to contain the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic”

The ambitious plan of placing the residents of Wuhan and nearby cities in the Hubei province under lockdown, which has put at least 50 million people under a mandatory quarantine since 23 January, proved to be a decisive factor in containing the extremely transmissive pathogen, COVID 19. Also, the electronic surveillance of millions of people to isolate the victims of coronavirus from the rest of the community are some of the other drastic measures. President Xi Jinping has taken personal efforts against the epidemic; he visited the frontline medical workers, made a visit to Wuhan, and made calls to all global leaders. President Xi has proved himself the”leader of a great nation” who cares for people.

The Chinese authorities built two dedicated hospitals, Leishenshan and Huoshenshan, in Wuhan in just over one week, the likes of which have never been seen in the world history. Health care workers from all over China were sent to the epicentre of COVID 19 outbreak-Hubei provinceto treat the affected patients. The government of China launched an unparalleled effort to detect contacts of the confirmed cases throughout the country. China’s efficient use of modern technology paved the way to fight coronavirus. The use of thermal equippeddrones to conduct thermal imaging and disinfecting robots helped doctors to diagnose and treat patients effectively. China proved to the world why it is ready to replace the US as the global technological leader.

Various tech giants of China have developed automated technologies for contactless delivery to bring the risk of cross-infection to minimal. These robots were installed in hospitals all around China to assist medical staff. Alibaba, a world-renowned tech giant, has announced the development ofArtificial Technology driven robot system that can diagnose corona victims with 96 percent efficiency. China also launched a close contact app to apprise the people if they come across a virus carrier. Even developed countries like South Korea, Japan and Italy are finding it extremely difficult to tackle the burgeoning challenge of corona that is not only threatening the security of these countries but is also blowing the horn for an impending global pandemic.Italy is following the footsteps of China to contain this virus by placing over 15 million people in quarantine and extending national emergency to the entire country.

In a nutshell, it can be said that at the onset of this pandemic, COVID 19 appeared to be an herculean task to be tackled but the Chinese government set a precedent for the rest of the world by taking immediate steps on war-footings and saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all around the world by showing to the world that with sheer determination and collective efforts, man is destined to overcome any threat to his well-being and survival.

The remarkable fight of China was hailed by a report released by the World Health Organisation on February 28, 2020. According to WHO’s report, “China’s bold approach to contain the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic.”

The untiring efforts of the Chinese government are the perfect translation of Sir Winston Churchill’s quote: “The era of procrastination, of delays, of baffling and soothing expedients, is coming to its close and in its place, we are entering a period of consequences.” It is a hopeful paradigm for the rest of the world to emulate in their fight against this global pandemic.

The writer is Director, Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies