London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2025

China’s Wuhan lockdown helped limit global spread of coronavirus, says World Health Organisation

China’s Wuhan lockdown helped limit global spread of coronavirus, says World Health Organisation

Bruce Aylward said the number of Covid-19 cases was ‘falling and falling because of the actions being taken’. Senior official who led team that visited city at centre of outbreak praises ‘ambitious’ response to the crisis, describing it as ‘extraordinary’

China’s decision to put Wuhan into lockdown a month ago helped limit the global spread of Covid-19 outbreak, a senior official from the World Health Organisation said on Monday.

Bruce Aylward, head of a WHO team that visited the city over the weekend, also confirmed that the number of new cases had been falling.

The epidemic, caused by a new strain of coronavirus, has already infected almost 80,000 people and killed more than 2,600.
“I know people look at the numbers and say ‘what’s really happening?’,” Aylward told a joint press briefing with China’s National Health Commission in Beijing on Monday night.

“Very rapidly, multiple sources of data pointed to the same thing. This is falling and it’s falling because of the actions that are being taken.”

He praised China for locking down Wuhan – a city of 11 million people – and said the decision helped avert a crisis.

“The world is in your debt,” he said. “The people of that city have gone through an extraordinary period and they’re still going through it.

“In the face of a previously unknown disease, China used one of the most ancient strategies for disease control.”

He described the “all-government, all-society approach” as “extraordinary” and “probably the most ambitious and agile” in history.

Aylward also said: “The world needs the experience and materials from China to be successful in battling this coronavirus disease. China has the most experience in the world with this disease. It is the only country that has turned around a serious and large-scale outbreak.”

He said that scaling down restrictions on movement and reopening restaurants and shops was a risk “that needs to be managed carefully”.

But he said the risk was dropping “and what China has to add to the global response is rising”.

While China reported fewer infections over the weekend, the disease has now spread to 29 countries and regions with South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran all reporting a surge in new cases.

The number of confirmed cases has reached 833 in South Korea, making the country the second most seriously affected after China.

The WHO team visited Beijing, Guangdong and Sichuan provinces last week and spent the weekend in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.



Liang Wannian, head of the National Health Commission team, said genome sequencing had shown that the virus has not yet mutated.

He said research also suggested bats were the most likely hosts, and it had possibly been passed on to civet cats, which then transmitted it to humans.

Concerns about possible transmission from wild animals to humans prompted the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top lawmaking body, to pass a resolution on Monday to ban the trade and consumption of wild animals.

“Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the eating of wild animals and the huge hidden threat to public health from the practice have attracted wide attention,” the standing committee said.

According to Yang Heqing, deputy director of the Office for Economic Law – part of the standing committee’s legislative affairs commission – the ban on consumption included legally protected wildlife and farm-bred wild animals.

It also prohibits hunting, trading and transport of certain wild animals.



The standing committee also voted to confirm to postpone the annual NPC conference, the biggest political gathering of the year which was due to be held early next month. It has yet to announce a new date for the meeting.

On Sunday President Xi Jinping addressed officials from around the country in a video conference, in which he was confident China could defeat the disease.

“It is unavoidable that the novel coronavirus epidemic will have a considerable impact on the economy and society,” said Xi in a lengthy address that was watched by as many as 170,000 officials and published by state news agency Xinhua.

However, he also stressed that China’s priority was to get its economy up and running again while fighting the epidemic.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
×