Evidence-Based Framework and Implementation of China’s Strategy in Combating COVID-19

Dahai Zhao,1,2,* Haijiang Lin,3,* Zhiruo Zhang4 1School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Shanghai Jiao Tong University-Yale University Joint Center for Health Policy, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Taizhou City Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Dahai ZhaoSchool of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xinjian Building, No. 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-139-1896-8766Email dahaizhao@sjtu.edu.cnIntroduction: In less than two months, the COVID-19 outbreak in China was controlled through the stringent strategies of screening and isolation. This article aims to use empirical data from all cases from a prefecture-level city of China to introduce and examine the feasibility and efficiency of the screening and isolation strategies and how these were essential in combatting the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: For this retrospective study, all confirmed COVID-19 patients were recruited from the Taizhou prefecture-level city of Zhejiang province, China.Results: Of the city’s total population, 24% were screened for COVID-19 and isolated at home or designated locations for two weeks. From these, a total of 146 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were analysed. Of all cases, 51% were traced from Wuhan, and 21% of patients were in close contact with confirmed cases from outside of the city. Initially, 13% of all patients reported having no clear symptoms, while 42% of patients presented with fever and/or other symptoms. Compared with local patients, new arrivals to the city had fewer days between their exposure and the development of symptoms of COVID-19 (P< 0.001), and fewer days from the time they developed symptoms to the confirmation of COVID-19 (P< 0.001), respectively.Conclusion: This study has fully confirmed that controlling the COVID-19 outbreak through screening and isolation is effective, efficient, and essential. The evidence-based framework and implementation of China’s strategy to combat COVID-19 can explain how China contained the COVID-19 outbreak in a short time period. This study offers important references and implications for containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the global community.Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic control, screening, isolation, China