Timeline of China Releasing Information on COVID-19 and Advancing International Cooperation

Workers load disaster-relief materials bound for Italy at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport on March 10, 2020. [Photo by Wang Jianlong/chinadaily.com.cn]

March 2020

March 1

-- Under the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, a press conference was held in Beijing about the effective prevention and control in accordance with the law of the imported COVID-19 cases.

March 2

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an inspection tour of the scientific research work for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic in Beijing.

Xi stressed the COVID-19 research must be taken as a major and pressing task, calling for pooling talents and resources of multiple fields under the united leadership and synergy, accelerating the research and development pace on the basis of adhering to science and ensuring safety, to overcome key and difficult issues in epidemic prevention and control as soon as possible to provide strong scientific and technological support for winning the anti-epidemic war. Xi's speech was published by the Qiushi Journal in its sixth issue of 2020.

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that Li Keqiang presided over a meeting of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on COVID-19 response work, making arrangements of prevention and control work for the next stage, to enhance the caring for the community workers at the response frontline and coordinate the work of epidemic prevention and control and spring farming.

-- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson answered questions on imported cases from Russia at a press conference.

March 3

-- China's NHC unveiled the seventh version of guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, which made modifications and improvements in the transmission routes, clinical features and diagnostic criteria, and emphasized the integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine in treating the disease.

-- Received by China's NHC, Hala Zayed, Egyptian President's special envoy and Egypt's Minister of Health and Population, visited China and met Chen Zhu, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and president of the Red Cross Society of China.

March 4

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to analyze major tasks in preventing and controlling the COVID-19 epidemic while stabilizing economic and social development.

-- China's NHC sent letters to the health authorities or organizations of Japan, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Italy, Singapore and Pakistan to express concerns on the current COVID-19 outbreak in these countries and hopes to enhance information sharing and technical cooperation.

-- China's foreign ministry and NHC jointly held a multilateral video conference on COVID-19 with experts from six countries including Azerbaijan and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to have in-depth exchanges on areas including prevention and control measures, diagnosis and screening, and laboratory testing.

-- The State Council Information Office held a simultaneous press conference in Beijing and Wuhan, linking frontline Chinese experts in Wuhan who introduced the treatment of COVID-19 with reporters in Beijing via video. The whole meeting was in English.

-- Under the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, a press conference was held in Beijing about promoting production and ensuring supply of important medical treatment equipment for epidemic prevention and control.

-- A research team from Westlake Institute for Advanced Study published an article in the journal Science, titled "Structural Basis for the Recognition of the SARS-CoV-2 by Full-Length Human ACE2", which successfully analyzed for the first time the full-length three-dimensional structure of ACE2, the cellular receptor for the new coronavirus.

-- Experts from China CDC participated in a COVID-19 response teleconference by the WHO's Global Preparedness Monitoring Board.

-- Zhong Nanshan held a video conference with head of the European Respiratory Society to introduce China's anti-epidemic achievements and experience.

March 5

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that Li Keqiang presided over a meeting of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on COVID-19 response work, ordering more targeted and effective prevention and control measures, demanding the implementation of solid measures to care for the medical personnel fighting on the frontline against COVID-19, and urging efforts to better guarantee the minimum living standard for those people in need.

-- China's foreign ministry and NHC held a video conference with health experts from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Turkmenistan and the secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to share China's anti-epidemic experience.

-- The State Council Information Office held a press conference in Beijing on international cooperation in combating the COVID-19 outbreak.

An NHC official told the press conference that China had conducted multiple exchanges with the heads of international and regional organizations such as the WHO and health departments of relevant countries, and received a special visit of Egypt's Minister of Health and Population, the special envoy of Egyptian President.

China has timely shared with the world the whole gene sequence, primers and probes of the coronavirus, and shared diagnosis and treatment guidelines and other technical documents with more than 100 countries and over 10 international and regional organizations around the world, said the official.

China has also carried out timely technical exchanges with international and regional organizations, such as the WHO, ASEAN and APEC, as well as Japan, Russia, Germany, the United States and other countries through expert discussions and teleconferences to share China's epidemic prevention and control experience and guidelines, said the official.

An Official with Chinese foreign ministry introduced China's international cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak and answered questions from reporters.

-- Under the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, a press conference was held in Beijing about the COVID-19 epidemic.

As revealed by the NHC at the press conference, two imported cases of novel coronavirus infection were reported on the Chinese mainland on March 4, bringing the accumulated number of imported cases to 20.

From March 5, China began reporting on a daily basis the newly imported COVID-19 cases on the previous day and the total imported cases from overseas.

-- A joint research team from Southern University of Science and Technology and the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen published an article on bioRxiv, titled "Viral Architecture of SARS-CoV-2 with Post-Fusion Spike Revealed by Cryo-EM", revealing the overall structure of the novel coronavirus.

March 6

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended a symposium on securing a decisive victory in poverty alleviation in Beijing and made an important speech. Xi urged Party committees and governments at all levels to advance the fight against poverty in greater determination and intensity, overcome the impact of the COVID-19 to clinch a complete victory in eradicating poverty and accomplish the great cause that is of tremendous importance both for the Chinese nation and humanity. Xi's speech was published in full text on the same day.

-- China shared with ASEAN, Japan, ROK, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, EU and other countries and regions videos of press conferences of China's clinical experts.

-- The State Council Information Office held a press conference in Hubei Province on the progress of the prevention, control, and treatment of COVID-19.

"We made public the information of epidemic prevention and control timely to let the society see the truth,"said Ding Xiangyang, deputy secretary-general of the State Council.

-- Under the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, a press conference was held in Beijing about the latest situation of COVID-19 scientific and technological research and development.

NHC spokesperson told the press that among 17 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on March 5 on the Chinese mainland, 16 cases were imported from outside the mainland, warning that China faces rising risk of imported COVID-19 cases.

China will continue to deepen international cooperation, timely share information and experience with the WHO and relevant countries, and jointly fight the epidemic, the spokesperson said.

-- The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson answered questions of reporters, addressing some media's claim that the novel coronavirus is "made in China."

According to the spokesperson, the traceability of the virus is still in progress. "Though the first case of COVID-19 was detected in China, it does not necessarily mean that it originated from China. We should jointly oppose 'information virus' and 'political virus.'"

March 7

-- The NHC released the sixth version of guidelines on the prevention and control of COVID-19.

-- A Chinese medical team dispatched by the Red Cross Society of China arrived in Iraq, carrying China-aided COVID-19 prevention supplies.

-- China's NHC shared with Chile the latest version of the guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 and other technical information, expressing its willingness to conduct technical exchanges online. The commission also shared with key countries and regions the English version of the seventh version of the diagnosis and treatment guidelines.

-- China announced a donation of 20 million US dollars to the WHO to support its international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

-- The State Council Information Office held a press conference in Wuhan City at which members of the guidance group sent by the CPC Central Committee introduced the progress of the COVID-19 prevention and treatment.

March 8

-- The NHC released a manual on prevention and control of COVID-19 for rural residents, which provides guidance and help for them to understand, prevent and control the coronavirus, and improve their self-prevention awareness and personal protection.

-- The NHC instructed medical teams aiding foreign countries to carry out capacity-building in local areas, held online training on the COVID-19 prevention and control for these teams, along with exercises on the epidemic prevention and control for the medical teams aiding Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.

March 9

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that Li Keqiang presided over a meeting of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on the COVID-19 response work, making arrangements for deepening international cooperation on epidemic prevention and control, curbing the cross-border spread of the epidemic and pushing for substantial results in relevant work.

-- Chen Zhu, vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee and head of the Red Cross Society of China, held a China-Italy video seminar on the COVID-19 prevention and control at the emergency command center of the China CDC.

-- A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a routine press conference in Beijing that while overcoming its own difficulties, China is willing to provide masks and other medical protection materials to relevant countries to support them in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and jointly deal with and eventually win the battle.

March 10

-- Xinhua News Agency reported that President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, went to Wuhan to inspect the prevention and control work at the critical moment of fighting COVID-19.

Xi stressed that the epidemic prevention and control situation in Hubei and Wuhan has seen positive changes and achieved important results in stages through hard work, but the task of the epidemic prevention and control remains arduous.

Xi pointed out that the public must keep a clear mind and be more cautious at this moment, making persistent efforts and great achievements and continuing to take the epidemic prevention and control as the current top priority and the most important work.

Xi also stressed that the whole country must not be careless or weary, and should pay close attention to all kinds of prevention and control work to resolutely win the battles against the coronavirus in Hubei and Wuhan.

Xi's speech was published by the Qiushi Journal in its seventh issue of 2020.

-- China's NHC and the foreign ministry held a TV and telephone conference with 10 South Pacific island countries to exchange the COVID-19 prevention and control technologies, organized experts to introduce China's prevention and control measures and phased achievements, shared disease information, prevention and control experience, and addressed foreign concerns.

-- The NHC recommended experts to participate in the formulation of the WHO gene sequencing guidelines.