National health response teams capable of covering all provincial regions of China

BEIJING -- In China, national emergency health response teams are capable of covering all provincial-level regions, according to a disease-control official on Thursday.

All provincial and 90 percent of municipal disease control centers have nucleic acid detection and virus isolation capabilities, Wang Hesheng, deputy head of the National Health Commission and chief of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, said during a press conference.

Infectious diseases can now be reported within an average of four hours in an online direct reporting system, he said. Previously, the average reporting period was five days.

The official added that on a national level, the country has established a technological system capable of identifying 300 pathogens within 72 hours.

Wang said China has in recent years strengthened cross-departmental cooperation, increased its disease prevention and control capacity, and implemented a comprehensive approach to the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

As a result, disease prevention and control in the country has reached new heights, he added.

HIGH-QUALITY DISEASE CONTROL, PREVENTION

China has released a new guideline document to promote the high-quality development of its disease control and prevention, indicating an ambition to build a more resilient public health system.

China plans to create a system that integrates military and civilian efforts, combines prevention and treatment, and features whole-of-society coordination in disease control and prevention by 2030.

Disease control and specialized prevention and treatment centers will serve as the backbone of the system with support from medical institutions, said the document.

So far, 84,000 medical and healthcare institutions have been incorporated into the online system for directly reporting infectious diseases and public health emergencies, said Zhang Guoxin, another National Disease Control and Prevention Administration official.

For example, 10 sub-systems now monitor potential outbreaks of COVID-19 infections and acute respiratory diseases involving outpost hospitals, virus mutation and urban sewage.

In the next step, more efforts will be made to build a smart monitoring and warning system with multiple triggers.

More information technologies will be translated into smart applications for automatic data collection, processing, analysis and early warning.