Web event brings global health experts together
Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai's COVID-19 clinical team, shares the experiences in Shanghai with his American peers during a webinar.
Experts called for the whole world community to act together in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic during a recent webinar.
The event was held for medical experts from China and the US to share experiences from the front line in the battle against the virus which has brought enormous challenges to the global public health system.
Zhong Nanshan, a renowned respiratory specialist and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said global cooperation is important as the world cannot bring the pandemic under control if even one single country remains in serious condition.
He shared the Chinese measures in curbing the pandemic, including the lockdown of Wuhan, the former epicenter of the epidemic in China, the nationwide cooperation, early detection, testing, diagnose and treatment, medications in Chinese hospitals as well as wearing masks and social distancing for prevention.
Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai's COVID-19 clinical team, also shared the city's experiences.
He said Shanghai took aggressive testing, extensive tracking and maximum hospitalization measures to stop local spread. But Shanghai still faces the challenges brought by imported cases, and it has set up a network with nearly 300 fever clinics in hospitals as well as fever alertness clinics at community health service centers to detect possible infections at an early stage.
“Chinese cities are reopening and I believe Europe and America will also open their borders in the following months, so the challenge we all face is great,” he said. “How the whole world should cope with the new society under the shadow of COVID-19 is a very important issue for all of us.”
Brian Bosworth, chief of medicine at New York University Langone Health's Tisch Hospital, said “the US has passed the peak period” of the pandemic, but risks remain as the economy starts to reopen again.
Barry Bloom, former dean of Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, said: “All heath care is local, but health research is global.”
He said data sharing and openness would make it possible for worldwide efforts to develop drugs and vaccines.
He said the pandemic will bring continuing concerns about health security around the world, but will also hopefully bring some positive changes, including appreciation and support for science and medical professionals, investments in innovation and commitment to decreasing societal inequities.
