White paper provides definitive COVID-19 blueprint

A press conference was given by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Sunday. The office had issued a white paper on the country's battle against COVID-19, entitled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action".

The white paper is an essential document. It contains the necessary data, procedures,and details of preventive measures, treatments and cures for COVID-19. It is a very comprehensive document containing in-depth information. The report provides the best guidelines for the rest of the world to follow in fighting COVID-19.

There was no precedent for this outbreak, and no guidelines available to be followed. There have been many pandemics, but COVID-19 is one of the most contagious and dangeorus of them all. It took some time for China to study and understand the virus, then formulate a policy to fight it. China struggled hard and mobilized all possible resources to win the battle.

Fortunately, the efforts of the Chinese leadership and the public were fruitful in defeating COVID-19. Now, China is helping other countries to overcome the pandemic and sharing its experience. The white paper published is the best guideline available.

Human lives are precious, and the Chinese government gave them its highest priority. After the country implemented strict lockdown and isolation measures, all educational institutes were closed, industry was shut down, all means of transportation were suspended, movement of goods and persons were halted, andcommercial activities were suspended. It has caused a considerable economic loss to the country, but saved many lives. China has one of the lowest fatality rates. Economic losses can be healed through hard work, but the loss of a life is irreversible.

While China was suffering from the outbreak and well into its fight against COVID-19, the US and some of its allies were criticizing China for its strict measures. They claimed they violated human rights and personal freedom. They wasted valuable time blaming and bashing China, but when it reached them, they were embarrassed and could not save face. As a result, they suffered heavy losses in the form of human lives as well as economic damage.

It was expected that the world might extend cooperation with China and overcome the outbreak at the initial stage. If this happened it might not have spread to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, some countries were happy when China was suffering and believed the outbreak would be an opportunity for them. Soon, they too were victimized and suffered heavy losses. Now they are trying to shift responsibility to China. In fact, they are searching for a scapegoat and trying to make China into one. They term the disease “China virus” or “Wuhan virus”; all are misleading and distracting. The virus is the enemy of humankind and does not differentiate among nationality, color, race, religion, or ethnicity. Still, it is not too late to cooperate with China and learn from the Chinese experience.

It is desired that the world may realize and extend cooperation with WHO and China to save humanity around the globe. China has emerged as a global leader in fighting COVID-19. The white paper is available to anyone willing to learn about the Chinese experience to defeat the virus. It will help to save the lives of many people around the world.

Zamir Ahmed Awan is a non-resident fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.