Expert: China's COVID-19 numbers speak for themselves

Residents take nucleic acid tests at a testing site in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, May 15, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

There is no need for China to argue with other countries about the transparency of COVID-19 information as the facts speak for themselves, said renowned Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan.

The country has released information on the pandemic in a timely, open and transparent manner, Zhong said while attending a symposium presided over by President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

After the expert team sent to Wuhan confirmed that the virus was capable of human-to-human transmission, the central leadership decided to put the city under lockdown and conducted strong containment measures around the country, he said.

Because of the early and decisive decision-making, the country has achieved important results in containing the pandemic, and the infection rate and death rate of COVID-19 in China is among the lowest in the world, Zhong said.

However, some politicians and media in the United States have repeatedly blamed China for deliberately hiding information about the pandemic based on no evidence, and have used the pandemic to smear and attack China, he said.

According to a report by CNN, the US has the highest per capita infection and death rates for COVID-19 and some European countries also have high infection and death rates, while China has the lowest. Therefore, they concluded that the country must have been hiding something, Zhong said.

A file photo of Zhong Nanshan.

"We do not need to explain ourselves and we just need to let the facts speak for themselves," he said.

The mass nucleic acid testing of nearly 10 million Wuhan residents from May 14 to June 1 found no confirmed cases and only 300 asymptomatic cases, which was very remarkable, he said.

"The mass testing shows that the country does have a low infection rate and is consistent with the data released previously by the government," he said. "We achieved such results because we did a good job in containing the spread of the virus early."

Researchers in China have not only conducted studies, but also written papers to analyze and summarize those studies, he said.

As of May 10, a total of 2,151 papers about COVID-19 had been published in the world's best-known journals, said Zhong, based on data from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

"Among the over 2,000 articles, China has contributed 650 pieces, accounting for nearly one-third of the total," he said. "These articles have provided a very good experience in guiding the world on pandemic containment."

Zhong said he has participated in dozens of international video conferences sharing China's experience in containing the pandemic thanks to the experiences summarized in the papers.

"Our research papers are not only for China, but also for the whole world," Zhong said.