Employ technology to bring an end to crisis
- All governments have to cooperate and coordinate if the war against the disease is to be won
Travel restrictions can delay, but not defeat, the coronavirus disease known as Covid-19. Face masks, hand washing, social distancing and quarantining will only protect against infection. Winning the fight requires strong science and technology through testing, good medical treatment and creation of a vaccine.
President Xi Jinping has sought such a course since the outbreak began, pushing for the world’s governments and scientists to work together to bring an end to the crisis.
The grappling by some governments with the spreading threat is evidence that basic lessons have not been learned and coordination is lacking. Asian nations have been told by the World Health Organisation that several are faring poorly and need to take more aggressive measures; even those that appear to have been coping, South Korea among them, are now facing a resurgence.
Xi’s signed article in the Communist Party magazine, Qiushi, on Monday was a timely reminder of what needs to be done. He laid out Beijing’s successes, stressing how science and technology were the most powerful weapons in the battle against diseases.
It is a sensible approach – no cure exists for Covid-19, so science offers the only viable way out of the crisis. Treating seriously and critically ill patients is the immediate task and combining Chinese and Western medicine could hold the key.