China is taking these steps to avoid a second wave of COVID-19

Apr 28, 2020

Students wearing face masks use hand sanitisers at an entrance to a school in Shanghai, China, as senior high school and senior middle school students in Shanghai return to campus following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, April 27, 2020. cnsphoto via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. - RC2SCG9A3Y1I

China is being highly vigilant to prevent a second outbreak. Image: REUTERS

Douglas Broom

Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

Our Impact

What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on COVID-19?

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how COVID-19 is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

COVID-19

China is easing lockdowns as the number of new coronavirus cases dwindles.
But it remains vigilant to stop a second wave of infections. New measures promote “civilized behaviour”.
Social distancing and hygiene measures remain in force.

China has announced new measures to avoid a second wave of COVID-19 infections as it gradually reopens its economy and releases citizens from coronavirus lockdowns.

Have you read?

But as travel and work restrictions are eased, authorities in Beijing have imposed new curbs to prevent a second wave of the virus. People who feel ill must wear a face mask in public, and anyone who doesn’t cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing will be fined.

The laws, designed to promote what Beijing calls “civilized behaviour”, also include a requirement for people to use their own utensils when eating shared meals. Under the new guidelines, eating on public transport is banned.

Public places must mark social distancing lanes to allow people to keep at least 1 metre apart at all times and anyone who spits in public will face a $28 penalty. Citizens are also expected to “dress neatly” and those infringing the rules face fines. New rules go into effect June 1.

Continued vigilance

Social distancing rules remain in place across the country but some tourist attractions are reopening. In Wuhan, once the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the historic Yellow Crane Tower is due to reopen to visitors this week.

The news came as authorities announced the last coronavirus patients had been discharged from the city’s hospitals. “The latest news is that by 26 April, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero,” said a National Health Commission spokesman.

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak?

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forum’s mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Since its launch on 11 March, the Forum’s COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.

The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of senior school students in Beijing and Shanghai returned to their classrooms on 27 April amid stringent hygiene measures including wearing face masks, reduced class sizes and staggered mealtimes in school canteens.

China has so far has reported nearly 84,000 cases of coronavirus, 78,000 recoveries and 4,637 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Authorities in Wuhan last Friday said there were 535 suspected cases in the city, all of whom were under medical observation.

Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly

Key figures of novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Greater China. Image: Statista

Chinese shares climbed on news of the fall in new cases amid hopes of further government economic stimulus.

The senior body of China’s parliament convened this week to set a date for the 2020 annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, which has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.