whole of society and galvanized the people into a nationwide response. A targeted, law- and science-based approach was adopted, and public health emergency response measures were rolled out on an unprecedented and extensive scale across the country. Through the strictest social distancing and flexible, people-centered social management, China put in place a prevention and control system involving governments at all levels and the whole of society, and launched a people's war on the virus applying non-medical means that has effectively blocked its transmission routes.
Strong measures were taken to control sources of infection. The Chinese government defined a set of requirements: early detection, reporting, quarantine and treatment with a focus on the four categories of vulnerable people (confirmed cases, suspected cases, febrile patients who might be carriers, and close contacts). It had also taken measures to ensure that they were hospitalized, treated, tested or quarantined as appropriate. It has done everything in its power to reduce infections to the minimum.
While keeping all its outbound routes closed, Wuhan carried out two rounds of community-based mass screening of its 4.21 million households, leaving no person or household unchecked and ruling out all potential sources of infection.
The Chinese government redoubled efforts to increase the capacity of nucleic acid testing, supply more test kits, and approve more testing institutions. As a result, the testing period was shortened and the quality enhanced, ensuring that all those in need could be tested immediately and as appropriate. In Hubei Province, the testing period was shortened from 2 days to 4-6 hours, and the daily capacity expanded from 300 samples in the early stage of the epidemic to more than 50,000 in mid-April. Such advances made early detection and confirmation of infection possible and reduced the risk of transmission.
To identify the four categories of vulnerable people, community grid-based screening was carried out across the country. All residents were requested to report their health condition on a daily basis. Community workers for their part visited households door-to-door to collect and verify this information. Temperature checking was made a routine at all places. Work was done to strengthen the monitoring and online reporting of cases identified at fever clinics of medical facilities – all such cases had to be reported online to higher authorities within 2 hours; their test results sent back to the reporting clinics within 12 hours; and on-site epidemiological investigation completed within 24 hours – so that confirmed cases and asymptomatic carriers would be identified and reported without delay. Epidemiological tracing and investigation were enhanced to precisely detect and cut off virus transmission routes. As of May 31, a total of more than 740,000 close contacts had been traced and handled as appropriate.
