China to improvise its disease prevention system amid criticism over COVID-19 response

Amid the unprecedented outbreak of deadly coronavirus, China has decided to introduce some reforms in its disease prevention and control system. The pandemic which originated in the mainland has fueled criticism over its handling of the outbreak worldwide. Therefore, the vice minister of the China National Health Commission, Li Bin told the reporters that the COVID-19 pandemic was ‘big test’ for the governance of the country and its ability to handle the diseases. In a bid to rectify the mistakes made by the Chinese government in the past, the commission plans to build a ‘centralised and efficient’ chain of command to ‘reform and modernise’ the health system. 

According to international reports, after the coronavirus outbreak spread to over 212 countries and territories, the Chinese commission intends to utilise big data, artificial intelligence along with cloud computing to enhance the tracing and analytic ability of virus resources and the diseases caused by it. Li also told the reporters that the country is planning to ramp-up its research on its core technologies to improve medical insurance and the availability of emergency materials.

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China reports 15 new asymptomatic cases

As the Chinese commission plans to reform its disease control methods, it also reported at least 15 new cases of the COVID-19 disease with no symptoms and zero fatalities. The health officials said on May 9 that the total asymptomatic cases in the Asian superpower are 836 including 63 of imported infections. According to reports, most of the asymptomatic cases of coronavirus were being reported from the epicentres of the outbreak in Hubei province. Meanwhile, Wuhan, that was initially the COVID-19 hotspot has not reported a single case of coronavirus infection for the last 35 days. 

After originating from China’s “wet markets”, the coronavirus has now claimed 276,680 lives worldwide as of May 9. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 212 countries and has infected at least 4,032,871 people. Out of the total infections, 1,399,742 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling.

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(With input from agencies)