EDITORIAL

China deserves credit, not criticism, for Covid-

19 handling
ByThe Manila Times

February 19, 2020

IT is unfortunate that political and economic fears have infected the national

conversation about the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), and made China

and the Chinese people the devils in the epidemic saga because an objective

assessment of the situation casts China in a far more positive light. Rather

than criticizing the Chinese government for what it did or did not do in the

course of fighting the Covid-19 outbreak or demonizing the Chinese people,

we ought to give them credit for likely preventing a much greater global
disaster.

At press time, the Covid-19 epidemic is by no means under control. There

have been some hopeful observations that the spread of the illness is

“slowing down,” but it may be too early to draw that conclusion. New cases

of the infection are appearing in China and elsewhere, and the death toll is
still hovering about 100 per day.
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Observing how fast the virus can spread should make one appreciate the

measures the Chinese authorities have implemented to try to bring the

epidemic under control. Very early in the outbreak, China moved to isolate

the affected areas and prevent movement of the virus; in fact, the first news

many people elsewhere in the world, including here in the Philippines, had of

the Covid-19 outbreak was when it was announced that the city of Wuhan

had been placed under lockdown. The quarantined areas were expanded
rapidly as the disease progressed; China either halted flights to other

countries on its own or calmly accepted those countries’ doing so; and most
internal travel was halted, as well.

This was a tremendous economic and social sacrifice for China, because

Covid-19 struck during the Lunar New Year holiday season, the biggest

travel holiday of the year. Before the seriousness of the outbreak was

generally known outside China, experienced observers predicted that Chinese

travelers would make 3 billion trips during the holiday.

Imagine what might have happened had the Chinese government not taken

the steps it has. For one thing, a considerable number of those 3 billion trips,

several thousand at a minimum, would have been tourists visiting the

Philippines. The number of Covid-19 cases here could have been

astronomical; they have not been, and in fact, have been a relatively minor
problem in spite of public fear of the illness. That the Philippines seems to

have dodged the bullet, so to speak, can be attributed entirely to China’s early

action, and our own authorities following China’s lead — although it could
be argued that local measures could have been implemented sooner.

China’s battle against Covid-19 is providing benefits to the rest of the world

in other ways as well. We are learning a great deal about how to deal with

large-scale epidemics by observing the Chinese, knowledge that,

unfortunately, will most likely be needed in years to come as new diseases

emerge. We are also discovering areas not really considered prior to the

Covid-19 outbreak where people are especially vulnerable such as on cruise

ships. And although it is a bit of a dubious lesson, the display of bias and

animosity toward the Chinese by the public has also been instructive in

helping government and the media shape the message about the crisis so that
we can do a better job of replacing fear with facts.

Are there things that China has done wrong or could have done better?

Absolutely. There have been a few mistakes and even the Chinese authorities

would likely admit that. It is to be expected that not everything will run

smoothly, for any country, when faced with an enormous, completely

unexpected and rapidly evolving crisis. It is, after all, easy to make analytical
judgments in hindsight. All things considered, China has done an admirable
job, and may have saved us all. Give them a little credit for that.