PETALING JAYA: Two broad control strategies were employed by China in curbing the spread of Covid-19, says Chief Epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Prof Dr Wu Zunyou.

       During the Beyond Covid-19: Fighting Infectious Diseases symposium, Prof Wu said that China utilised the elimination or containment strategy along with the mitigation or suppression strategy in curbing spread of the virus.

       He added that the containment strategy was highly effective towards preventing further spread of the virus.

       "To control outbreaks rapidly, China pursued several factors which included early detection, reporting, isolation, treatment and care of patients.

       "Contract tracing, large scale Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing was also utilised by China.

       "The effectiveness of localised containment responses similarly allowed an effective resolution of outbreaks at the local level without disrupting the lives of the larger population," he said at the symposium jointly hosted by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Incorporated (ASLI), Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC) and Jeffrey Cheah Institute on South East Asia (JCI) of Sunway University.

       He added that strong leadership from the government, good coordination from government sectors and society, the mobilisation of communities and the full implementation of control strategies also contributed towards curbing the spread of the virus in China.

       Prof Wu also said that China implemented risk assessment tools to identify and divide districts involved into high, medium and low risk areas to minimise the number of people affected by the virus.

       "Although some may view the containment strategy as limiting one’s freedom or violating human rights, the most important right is to keep people alive and healthy," he said.

       Prof Wu also highlighted that China’s containment strategy was estimated to have prevented 40 million Covid-19 cases and 840,000 deaths.

       Professor of Infectious Diseases of Universiti Malaya Datuk Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman echoed Prof Wu’s measures by saying that data was key to enable a targeted and quick response towards the pandemic.

       "Equipping our district health offices with digital systems can also strengthen their capabilities," she said.

       China recently reported their success in curbing the spread of the virus earlier this year with a total of 94,954 confirmed cases and 4,634 deaths as of Sept 2.

       To date, Malaysia has reported a total of 1,995,771 cases with nearly 21,000 deaths.