Learn from China to stop the coronavirus epidemic, top medical journal says

Developed countries must take more aggressive action and abandon fears of negative short-term public and economic consequences, The Lancet says

Less-developed countries could ‘easily be overwhelmed and unable to fight the virus by themselves’

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Other countries can learn lessons from China’s containment measures, according to an international medical journal. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:09pm, 7 Mar 2020Updated: 10:47pm, 7 Mar 2020

Other countries should learn from China and adopt more stringent measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic despite possible negative short-term impacts on the economy and public freedom, the international medical journal The Lancet said.

In an editorial published on Saturday, the journal warns that the window for global containment is closing and poorer countries with weak health systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East will be particularly vulnerable to a pandemic.

Over the past week, the virus has spread far more quickly outside China than within its borders, infecting more than 100,000 people in over 90 countries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the spread of the deadly pneumonia-like illness was “deeply concerning” and urged “all countries to make containment their highest priority”.

The editorial – “Covid-19: too little, too late?” – said that Italy, which has quickly become the epicentre for further spread across Europe, took action that was “slow and insufficient”.

“There is now a real danger that countries have done too little, too late to contain the epidemic,” it said.

The journal said countries should have learned from China despite their differences in political and economic systems, citing a report by a team of WHO and Chinese experts after a trip last month to Wuhan, ground zero of the epidemic.