22 March
China, the country on the frontlines of the novel coronavirus pandemic that infected 81,000 Chinese, marked a milestone on Thursday: for the first time since December, it reported no new domestic virus cases.
We must acknowledge China’s hard-won progress against the virus and must understand the lessons to learn from their achievements.
The efforts of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea have pointed to the active participation of the people by practicing preventive methods and contributing to controlling the infection.
As the coronavirus infection outside China is rising, our people, health workers and officials should double up on our current efforts, with the mind-set that the outbreak of the disease can occur any time in our country.
In an effort to prevent, control and treat the Coronavirus infection, health authorities in regions and states must take a bold approach to introduce aggressive measures.
At the same time, we must impose travel restrictions on visitors from those countries in which there are new outbreaks and fatalities.
Myanmar migrant workers in foreign countries, especially in our neighbouring countries, are to return home before the traditional New Year in mid-April, and all authorities in regions and states are obliged to prepare for surveillance and quarantine of these workers for a two-week incubation period.
Meanwhile, it is a welcome move to prevent the infection of the disease that the Labour Department suspended sending workers to foreign countries, as of 18 March, while requesting that Myanmar migrant workers in overseas countries follow the directives of the respective countries, in an effort to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
The regional health authorities are also advised to report to the central level committee on what they urgently need, including the tools needed to diagnose the virus.
We now have the opportunity to see how China manages a possible resurgence of COVID-19 and can follow the core points of the ‘Four Earlys’ that China practiced: early prevention, early detection, early diagnosis, and early quarantine.
In fact, the number of health workers in our country is very low, compared with other countries. But, the collaborative efforts of our health workers and professionals, along with the people, are playing an important role in preventing and controlling the spread of the infection.
With the redoubling of our collaborative efforts against the disease, we must prevent the introduction of the Coronavirus disease.
GNLM
