WHO expert to Wuhan people: “The world is in your debt”

The WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 visits Tongji Hospital (Optics Valley Campus) for field investigation on February 23 (Photo by Tao Jidong)2月23日，中国—世界卫生组织新冠肺炎联合专家考察组在同济医院（光谷院区）现场调研（陶继东 摄）

“(Wuhan,) the city of skyscrapers, giant auto routes and a gorgeous hypermodern train station was silent. It was a ghost town. And behind every window of these skyscrapers we drove past, there were people. There were 15 million people who were staying put in one place for weeks at a time to stop this disease.”

These were the remarks Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the team lead of a WHO-China joint mission on COVID-19, gave in late February after he finished the study trip in China.

From 16 to 24 February 2020, 25 experts from China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, the United States of America and the World Health Organization (WHO) formed a joint mission to carry out field study on the coronavirus outbreak in China. Recalling details of the study trip in China, Aylward said he was impressed by the Chinese people that, “They all shared this sense of responsibility, accountability to be part of this.” He believes it is Chinese people’s resilience and dedication that have largely contained the spread of the virus.

He told the story of some Chinese medical staff dropping off in the meetings with the joint mission because of the exhausting work, and said he was particularly impressed by thousands of health care workers volunteering to go into Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“这座有着许多高楼大厦、宽敞的高速公路、现代化的火车站的城市，变得沉寂，仿佛是一座空城。我们途经一座座高楼大厦，窗户后面，有1500 万武汉人，他们几个星期都待在屋里，这一切只是为了阻止病毒的传播。”这是世界卫生组织总干事高级顾问布鲁斯·艾尔沃德2月下旬在结束对中国的实地考察后发出的感慨。

2020年2月16日 至24日，由来自中国、德国、日本、韩国、尼日利亚、俄罗斯、新加坡、美国和世界卫生组织的25 名中外专家组成的中国—世界卫生组织新冠肺炎联合专家考察组在华开展调研。回忆起在中国的考察行程，艾尔沃德说，自己在医院里、飞机和火车上同奋战在一线的医护人员、工作人员等交谈、了解情况，“最让我震撼的是，每一个中国人都有很强烈的责任担当和奉献精神，愿意为抗击疫情做出贡献”。

艾尔沃德分享了他在中国观察到的几个细节：奋战在抗疫一线的医护人员和工作人员全力以赴，非常疲惫，有工作人员在同考察组谈话间隙困得睡着了；中国其他省份的医疗队携带个人防护装备和医疗设备驰援湖北，甚至接管整个院区，这在其他国家是不可想象的。

“中国采取了最彻底、最严格的防控举措，执行起来不折不扣。”艾尔沃德说，中国针对不同地区采取“差异化”的防控措施。具体来说，就是针对武汉以及湖北省外的地方采取不同等级的防控措施，对于没有病例、零星病例、聚集性病例、有社区传播现象的地区，实施差异化的应对措施。

“武汉街道空无一人，但是每个窗户后面都有配合应对疫情的市民。中国展现了惊人的集体行动力与合作精神。”艾尔沃德看到，每一个人都被动员和组织起来，就像是在跟病毒打一场战争，他们肩负起了阻止病毒蔓延的共同责任。

“正是由于中国采用了全政府、全社会的这一经典传统又看似老派的方法，避免了少则万余多，多则数十万病例的出现，这是了不起的成就。”或许正是因为这段经历深刻打动了他，所以艾尔沃德才会在24日晚的新闻发布会上如此总结并专门致谢武汉人民：“我们要认识到武汉人民所做的贡献，世界欠你们一份情。当这场疫情过去，希望有机会代表世界再一次感谢武汉人民。”

Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19’s foreign expert panel, holds up a chart showing the results of China’s epidemic control efforts at the news conference (Photo by Xing Guangli) 中国—世界卫生组织新冠肺炎联合专家考察组外方组长布鲁斯·艾尔沃德在新闻发布会上用图表展示中国抗疫成就（邢广利 摄）

China has taken “differentiated approach” for different situations of sporadic cases, clusters of cases, or community transmission, which makes a massive scale of epidemic control work without exhausting its response, said Aylward.

Wuhan became a ghost town, but behind every window and every skyscraper, there were people cooperating with response. Aylward recalled that “Every person you talked to (in China) has a sense that they’re mobilized like in a war against the virus and they are organized.”

“This approach of all-ofgovernment and all-of-society is very old-fashioned and has averted and probably prevented at least tens of thousands even hundreds of thousands, of cases,” he said. “It is extraordinary.”

“To the people of Wuhan, it is recognized that the world is in your debt,” on the press release on the night of February 24, Aylward especially paid tribute to the people of Wuhan. “When this disease finishes, hopefully we will have a chance to thank the people of Wuhan for the role they have played.”

On March 19, after about two months’ arduous nationwide battle against the epidemic, Wuhan reported no new cases for the first time since the outbreak started. On the following day, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General commented that, “Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most serious situation can be turned around. Of course, we must exercise caution. The situation can reverse. But the experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this virus gives hope and courage to the rest of the world.”

At 7:00 pm on March 11, some 80 convalescents are under quarantine and observation in their respective rooms at a rehabilitation center in Hongshan District, Wuhan City. Outside their windows are the silent streets illuminated by the streetlights. (Photo by Li Xi)3月11日晚7 时，武汉市洪山区某康复驿站，近80 名康复者在各自房间里接受隔离观察。窗外华灯初上，马路上空无一人。（李溪 摄）

One month later on April 26, thanks to the joint effort of all medical works, Wuhan, the central Chinese city once hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, cleared all COVID-19 cases in hospitals.

“That’s very very welcome news to hear that there are no more severe cases, no more patients in Wuhan,” said Dr. Maria van Kerkhove at a virtual press briefing later.

“So congratulations on this achievement,” she said.

Dr. van Kerkhove appreciated the “tireless efforts” of the people in Wuhan—“not just the healthcare workers but the individuals who stayed in their homes, who adhered to the public health measures.”

“We take our hats off to you, and we thank you for your commitment and your service, and for sharing with us in the world what you’ve been able to do,” she said.

As one of the China-WHO joint mission who visited China in February, Dr. van Kerkhove said “China has worked very hard to bring the outbreak under control.”

“The world has learned from China,” Dr. van Kerkhove said, “and we need to continue to learn from Wuhan on how they are lifting those measures, how they are bringing society back to normal, or a new normal, in terms of how we’re going to live with this virus going forward.”

(Source: Xinhua News Agency, people.cn, China Daily)

3月19日，经过近两个月艰苦卓绝的举国战“疫”，湖北省、武汉市新增确诊病例终于首度归零。对此，世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞表示：“武汉（零新增）给世界带来了希望：即使是疫情最严重的情况也能扭转。当然，我们仍需谨慎行事，因为疫情形势仍然可能逆转。但是，击退这种病毒的城市和国家，它们的经验给世界其他地区带来了希望和勇气。”

4月26日，经过武汉和全国援鄂医务人员的共同努力，武汉在院新冠肺炎患者清零，世界卫生组织卫生紧急项目技术负责人玛丽亚·范凯尔克霍弗对此表示祝贺并感谢武汉人民的“不懈努力”，不仅仅是医务工作者，还包括很长一段时期内遵守居家隔离措施的每个人。

范凯尔克霍弗今年曾作为世卫专家组成员到中国考察两周，她表示，自己亲眼见证了中国所做的努力，现在有许多其他城市正应对与武汉同样的问题，“我们要继续向武汉学习”，学习他们如何逐步解封、让社会回归正常。