A Unique Advantage

　　China’s political-sociocultural system hasenabled it to mobilize all its resourceswith lightning speed to fight the novelcoronavirus.

　　It is the system of socialism withChinese characteristics espoused by theCommunist Party of China (CPC) that hashelped concentrate medical experts andresources to provide treatment to peopleinfected with the virus on a massive scaleand then mobilize other resources to limitthe infections while keeping life and theeconomy going.

　　In the fight against the epidemic,China’s institutional advantages havebeen evident, primarily in two aspects.First, the entire country has united as oneand taken swift action.

　　On January 25, President Xi Jinping,also General Secretary of the CPC CentralCommittee, chaired a meeting of theStanding Committee of the Party’sPolitical Bureau, where it was decidedthat a group would be formed to lead thework on epidemic prevention and control.Under the group, several working groupswere set up to cover seriously affectedareas, such as Hubei Province in centralChina.

　　Following the meeting, all 31 provinces,municipalities and autonomousregions on the Chinese mainland activateda top-level public health emergencyresponse, which included drawing up preventivemeasures for communities. Themeasures were immediately carried outby communities throughout the country,presenting a striking contrast to the situationin the United States when it grappledwith the H1N1 outbreak in 2009. At thattime, it took former U.S. President BarackObama six months to declare the fl u a nationalemergency.

　　Health workers and medical resourcesfrom all over China have beenrapidly concentrated and sent to supportWuhan, capital city of Hubei, which hasbeen the worst affected. With infectioncontrol in Wuhan the top priority, theCentral Government has sent more than32,000 health workers to Hubei. Medicalsupplies such as protective suits, surgicalmasks, medical gloves and gogglesfrom the national medical reserves arebeing transported to Wuhan on an urgentbasis, and production of medicalequipment has been accelerated acrossthe country to ensure a steady flow ofsupplies.

　　The comprehensive planning has alsoseen the Central Government pair up 19provinces and municipalities with 16 citiesand prefectures in Hubei other thanWuhan to assist them. Two hospitals thattogether provide about 2,500 beds for severecases were built in Wuhan in 10 dayseach. Several of these measures havebeen lauded by the international community,media and medical organizations.

　　Actions speak louder than words. Thehandling of a severe epidemic has shownthe worth of China’s system. n

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