Wuhan, China’s hardest-hit city by the COVID-19 epidemic, announced on Tuesday the results of its city-wide coronavirus testing. It’s reported that a total of 300 asymptomatic patients were found among 9.89 million residents that were tested, with no confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The 10-day battle that mobilized thousands of medics and other workers and cost 900 million yuan ($126.58 million), marks a milestone in not only the city’s anti-virus battle, but also China’s decisive success in combating the COVID-19.
Releasing results of the large-scale testing is a strong counter strike to the allegations of some Western politicians and foreign media that China covered up countless COVID-19 cases in Wuhan and is not transparent in data releasing. Instead, with concrete numbers and solid evidence, Wuhan’s government has demonstrated that the city has tamed the outbreak and dispelled worries of a potential second outbreak.
The expense of the all-encompassing nucleic acid testing will be shouldered by the Wuhan government, according to a local official. The ambitious and people-oriented move will play an irreplaceable role in restoring public confidence as daily life of Wuhan residents gradually returns to normalcy and resumption of work and production is underway.
Without getting tested, locals will be restricted to go to public places like schools and supermarkets, with their health codes downgrading to yellow. In this way, residents can be assured of their safety of getting out without any psychological burdens.
In a way, the mental lockdown of Wuhan has eased with the completion of the large-scale testing. The city embraces a real reopening as people’s livelihoods and health are now guaranteed, making way for a safe and healthy environment. As experts noted, with centralized screening and big data analysis, the government will get a clearer knowledge of the loopholes and weak points in disease prevention and control.
Neighborhoods and districts with asymptomatic patients will be the key areas for targeted control. By normalizing work in the public health sector, the Wuhan government will be better prepared to achieve economic and social development targets while compensating for the losses during the outbreak.
Compared with other countries who faced obstacles in offering large-scale testing for their citizens, the Chinese government has stood out in terms of its social governance capacity. By mobilizing tremendous social resources and vowing to make sure that no one will be left behind in the campaign, the city accomplishes the 10-day mission by increasing its nucleic test institutes from 23 to 63 and combining test methods from single testing with sample pooling, largely increasing the efficiency of testing, according to media reports.
The Wuhan government has achieved this at a miraculous speed by increasing its daily testing capacity from 300,000 people to 1 million, the best example of innovating social governance. With new infrastructure prioritized in this year’s Two Sessions, how to harness digital technologies in maximizing the allocation of resources and promoting social economy will be a daunting task today.
Releasing Wuhan’s test results reassures the whole country and the world that resurgence of the epidemic in the city won’t be likely. For those who are still battling the COVID-19 in other parts of the world, the move injects confidence, because if Wuhan can make it, the whole world can make it too.
By quoting four groups of data in the testing, Li Lanjuan,an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in infectious diseases, said, "Wuhan is a safe city. Wuhan’s people are healthy."Li’s words quickly turned into a hot button issue on yesterday’s trending list of China’s social media Weibo.
The road ahead is still long and tough as we strive for greater economic and social development achievements. Wuhan’s testing results will also be a reminder for policymakers as well as ordinary citizens to refresh our lessons on how to improve the public health system to better prep for emergencies and crises.