Senior officials from the Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Nanjing share knowledge and experience of COVID-19 crisis with city leaders and officials
C40 Cities hosts virtual meeting to share experience on how to save lives and protect livelihoods during COVID-19 pandemic.London 03 April 2020 – Today, experts from Beijing, Guangzhou and Nanjing shared vital knowledge and advice on effectively managing the COVID-19 crisis with mayors and senior city officials from more than 50 cities across the globe, representing over 400 million people. Mayors of Warsaw, Poland; Heidelberg, Germany; and Bridgewater, Canada, also shared experiences from their cities with their fellow city leaders.
Meeting via video link were senior city officials from Warsaw, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Milan, New York, Mexico City, Kolkata, Delhi, Istanbul, Phoenix, Tel Aviv, Glasgow, Bridgewater, Philadelphia, Barcelona, Miami, Toronto, Berlin, Heidelberg, Dubai, Chennai, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Freetown, Lagos, Accra, Kolkata, San Francisco, Bogotá, Amman, Durban, Portland, Guadalajara, Rio, Edmonton, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Beijing, Tshwane, Johennesburg, Dhaka South, Kuala Lumpur, Accra, Seoul, São Paulo, Montreal, Madrid, Bangkok, Medellín, and Lisbon.
Speakers on the call included:
• Ms. Pang Xinghuo, Deputy Director of Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention
• Mr. Tang Xiaoping, Director of the Health Commission of Guangzhou;
• Ms. Ding Jie, Deputy Director-General of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Nanjing
• Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, Poland
• Eckart Würzner, Mayor of Heidelberg, Germany
• David Mitchell, Mayor of Bridgewater, Canada
Deputy Director-General of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Nanjing, Ms. Ding Jie said “Efforts are made to ensure that all in need are isolated, admitted, tested, and treated in order to implement effective management for confirmed cases, suspected cases, asymptomatic individuals, and close contacts. We aim to find infected individuals as early as possible, improve admission and cure rates and reduce infection and case fatality rates. Public education is constantly enhanced.”
Mr. Tang Xiaoping, Director of the Health Commission of Guangzhou, emphasised the crucial measures for effective containment implemented in Guangzhou – early detection, early reporting, early isolation and early diagnosis. He advised of the importance of coordinating across all levels of city and rural authorities to ensure society-wide efforts to prevent and control the pandemic, as well as the value in community participation.
In Nanjing, just 94 confirmed cases have been reported as of 27 March, in a city with a population of over 8 million, with no new confirmed local cases reported since 18th February.
In Guangzhou, with a total population of 22 million, there are just 446 confirmed cases as of April 1st, and one confirmed death – a mortality rate of 0.22%.