Several Basic Facts of COVID-19 in China
关于中国新冠肺炎疫情的几个基本事实
A Signed Article by Ambassador Jin Zhijian Published on Fréttablaðið
驻冰岛大使金智健在冰岛《消息报》发表署名文章
5 May 2020
2020年5月5日
I am pleased to see that my Fréttablaðið article entitled Fighting COVID-19 Together on April 15 has drawn some attention from the readers. I also took notice of the Fréttablaðið article contributed by Mr. Þorgeir Eyjólfsson and Mr. Hrafn Magnússon on April 27, in which they questioned my statement of “Since the outbreak, China has been acting in a timely, open, transparent and responsible manner in sharing relevant information and experience to contain the coronavirus with the world.” I would like to elaborate on a few points for your reference.
我很高兴看到4月15日我在《消息报》上发表的《团结协作， 共抗疫情》一文得到了部分读者关注，也注意到埃约尔夫松和马格努松两位先生4月27日联名发文对我文中“中国始终以公开、透明、负责任的态度及时向国际社会通报疫情信息”的说法提出质疑。我愿就此做几点说明，供大家参考。
The origins of the novel coronavirus. Scientists all over the world are carrying out research on this subject and they put forward various viewpoints, hypotheses and speculations. However, the international preliminary research findings are unable to identify the initial transmission routes of the novel coronavirus. Conspiracy theories that the novel coronavirus originated in Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) have no basis. Before receiving the first test samples of COVID-19 patients on December 30, 2019, there was no novel coronavirus in WIV. So far, no WIV staffs get infected by novel coronavirus either. WHO points out that all evidence shows that the virus comes from nature rather than the lab. China is the first country to report COVID-19 cases, but that doesn’t necessarily make China the origin of the novel coronavirus. The origin of the novel coronavirus is a complicated and difficult scientific matter that should be the subject of study for scientists and medical experts. I believe time will tell.
关于新冠肺炎病毒起源问题，目前世界许多科学家都在就此开展研究，也提出了一些学术上的观点、猜想和假设。但到目前为止，国际上的初步研究结论尚不能明确新冠病毒的初始传播路径。关于新冠病毒源自武汉病毒研究所的说法是莫须有的猜测。在2019年12月30日接收新冠肺炎患者的首批检测试样前，武汉病毒研究所的实验室内并无新冠病毒。截至目前，该研究所内也无人感染新冠肺炎。世界卫生组织指出，所有现有证据表明，新冠病毒源于自然,而非人工合成。中国是首个报告新冠肺炎疫情的国家，但并不意味着中国就是新冠病毒的源头。病毒溯源是科学问题，也是科学难题，应该交由科学家和专业人士研究，相信今后自有公论。
China’s early response to the pandemic and information sharing with the world. The two authors claimed that the first case of COVID-19 in China dated back to December 1, 2019, and China waited until Jan 3, 2020 to report to WHO. This can be seen as a prove of China’s poor handling and covering-up of the pandemic. However, the fact is that the Chinese authorities received the first alert on the disease via the official reporting system on December 27, 2019. It was Doctor Zhang Jixian of Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine who first reported to the Wuhan health authorities with 3 cases of pneumonia of unknown cause. With 3-day epidemiological investigation, on December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission released a briefing about the pneumonia outbreak in the city, and reported to the representative office of WHO in China on the same day with a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan. Starting Jan. 3 2020, China has been regularly informing the WHO and relevant countries about the pneumonia outbreak. On Jan 8, China initially identified a new coronavirus as the cause of the pandemic. On Jan 11, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention uploaded all the five genetic sequences of the novel coronavirus onto the website for sharing with the world and the WHO. On Jan 20, the National Health Commission leading experts confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus with solid epidemiological investigation. On Jan 23, Wuhan announced lockdown, and by then there were only 10 confirmed cases outside China with zero case in Europe. China’s timely and effective measures have forged the very front line of global defense against COVID-19. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the high speed and massive scale of China’s moves that were rarely seen in the world, which showed China’s efficiency and the advantages of China’s system. He commented that China’s measures were not only protecting its people, but also protecting the people in the whole world.
至于中国在疫情早期是否及时应对并迅速将有关信息与全球共享问题，文章作者认为中国首例新冠肺炎病例发生在2019年12月1日，中国政府直到2020年1月3日才上报世卫组织，说明中方动作迟缓，试图掩盖疫情。事实并非如此。中国官方机构首次获得关于新冠肺炎疫情的信息是在2019年12月27日，湖北省中西医结合医院张继先医生向武汉市江汉区疾控中心报告3例不明原因肺炎病例，进行流行病学调查3天后，武汉市卫健委于12月31日发布肺炎疫情情况通报，中方同日向世卫组织驻华代表处通报了武汉出现不明原因肺炎疫情。2020年1月3日，中方开始正式向世卫组织及有关国家及时主动通报信息。1月8日中国专家经评估后初步确认新冠病毒为疫情病源。1月11日中国疾控中心将5条新冠病毒全基因组序列上传网站，同全球和世卫组织共享数据。1月20日，中国国家卫建委高级别专家组基于扎实的流行病学研究证实新冠病毒可人传人。1月23日，中方宣布武汉“封城”，此时中国以外地区仅有10例确诊病例，欧洲尚无1例。中国采取了及时有效的举措，为全球防疫筑起了第一道防线。世卫组织总干事谭德赛对此表示高度赞赏，认为中方行动速度之快、规模之大，世所罕见，展现出中国速度、中国规模、中国效率，既保护了中国人民，也保护了世界人民。
China’s confirmed COVID-19 cases and death toll. Joint efforts have contributed to the relatively low figures of both confirmed and deceased COVID-19 cases in China. First of all, since the early stage of the outbreak, the Chinese government has adopted the most comprehensive, stringent and thorough prevention and control measures which became key factors for containing the spread of the virus. According to the report released by the famous academic journal “Science”, the Wuhan travel ban or the national emergency response have reduced nearly 700,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Secondly, in a matter of life and death with COVID-19, the Chinese government implemented policies of hospitalization of all who need to be hospitalized, and treating all who need to be treated at all costs. China made full use of the advantage of its social system and allocated resources with high efficiency across the country. More than 42,000 health workers including the best experts nationwide were dispatched to Hubei. Two specialized hospitals with a total of 2500 isolation beds built in just 2 weeks, together with 19 temporary cabinet hospitals, have ensured all patients to be treated in time. Thirdly, the wide use and effectiveness of the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine has become a major feature of China’s clinical treatment. Statistics show that both the rate of traditional Chinese medicine use and effectiveness in treating patients in China was more than 90 percent, which largely reduced the infection rate, the mortality rate and speed up recovery.
中国较少确诊和死亡病例是多方努力的结果。一是归功于中国政府及时采取了最全面、最严格、最彻底的防控措施，这是遏制疫情蔓延的关键因素。《科学》杂志研究报告预估，关闭离汉通道等应急举措使中国减少了超过70万感染者。二是基于“生命大于天”的理念，中国政府不惜一切代价，坚持“应收尽收”、“应治尽治”，充分发挥中国制度优势，在全国范围内高效配置资源，调集了包括最好专家在内的42000多名医务人员驰援湖北，在短短2周内建成两座共有2500个隔离病床的专门医院和19所临时方舱医院，使所有患者得到及时救治。三是充分利用中医功效，坚持中西医结合，在中国新冠肺炎患者中中医药使用率和总有效率均超过90%，大幅降低了感染率、病亡率，提升了治愈率。
The international community should constantly gain experience and learn lessons in our response to the unknown novel coronvirus. There is no standard solution that applies in each country, and all countries are figuring out their own best ways to defeat the disease. We do not need any more suspicious accusations and attacks, but strengthened cooperation and concerted efforts in international community to defeat COVID-19 in order to greet the bright future.
面对充满未知因素的新冠肺炎病毒，国际社会需要在实践中不断总结经验、吸取教训。各国抗疫之路没有最好，只有更好。我们现在需要的不是妄加猜疑、相互攻击，而是应尽最大努力加强国际合作，同舟共济，以早日战胜疫情，共迎美好明天。
Chinese Ambassador to Iceland Jin Zhijian
中国驻冰岛大使金智健