SHANGHAI/BEIJING (CHINA) – China is grappling from the worst outbreak of COVID-19 since March 2020. One province from the country posted a record daily rise in cases, and an independent panel, which reviewed the global pandemic said that China could have taken stern action to curb the initial outbreak.
State-backed tabloid the Global Times on Tuesday spoke in support of China’s early handling of COVID-19, reiterating that no country had any experience in tackling the completely new virus.
It said, “Looking back, no country could perform perfectly in facing a novel virus…no country can guarantee they won’t make mistakes if a similar epidemic occurs again.”
The national health authority said in a statement that China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for a seventh day on Tuesday. Mainland China posted 118 new cases on January 18, up from 109 a day earlier.
Of those, 106 were local infections, with 43 reported in Jilin, a new daily record for the northeastern province, and 35 in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, the National Health Commission said.
The Chinese capital itself reported one new case, while Heilongjiang in the north reported 27 new infections.
Ahead of Lunar New Year holiday, some northern cities have been undergoing mass testing for coronavirus.
Authorities have appealed to people to avoid travel and refrain from mass gatherings such as weddings.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China is 89,454, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.
An independent panel of experts reviewing the pandemic, with former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf leading the team, said on Monday that Chinese officials could have resorted to more forceful public health measures in January last year to contain the initial outbreak.
It also criticised the World Health Organization (WHO) for not declaring an international emergency until January 30.
A WHO team is currently in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the disease was first detected in late 2019, to monitor the origins of the pandemic that has killed millions worldwide.