The COVID-19 chain reaction can be contained by learning from China

Fear is spreading that the COVID-19 outbreak is catalyzing a chain reaction of interconnected consequences across the world, but everything can still be contained if countries learn from China's experience in dealing with the virus' spread. Italy, Iran and South Korea are the new epicenters of this disease, causing alarm in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, respectively, and making many wonder just how far-reaching the socio-economic and political impacts will be.

There's already talk about restricting the free movement of people within the Schengen Zone after the outbreak in Northern Italy, the potential for more protests in Iran as a result of its border closures worsening its ongoing economic crisis, and the alternatives that technology companies have for replacing much-needed supplies from South Korean factories in the event that their production is disrupted if the virus spreads further. All of these are relevant questions, but the most important should be about coordinating a global response.

Tens of millions of people in China have had to temporarily adjust their lifestyles in response to the government's proactive containment efforts, and the world can learn a lot from what the country has gone through over the past month. After all, the scale and scope of what's happening in China are large enough to be used as a model for other states to follow, and the successes that it's had thus far show the proper way to deal with this situation, provided that other authorities have the political will to do so.

The centralized nature of the Chinese state has once again proven to be a strategic advantage. Instead of an ad hoc response hastily slapped together by local, state and national officials – all of whom might have self-interested partisan motivations for promoting one approach over another – the Communist Party of China was able to swiftly implement an effective policy that gradually expanded until it eventually got ahead of the virus' geographic spread and served to thwart further outbreaks.

Other countries have different political systems, but they can still learn from China's experience. For example, concerned citizens can volunteer to assist their local governments and police forces in screening fellow residents of their apartment blocks or neighborhoods for symptoms of the virus. The political canvassers popular in Western countries already specialize in community outreach efforts, so they could potentially serve as the vanguard of these efforts, provided that they have the authorities' permission and coordinate with them.

Local governments can request the assistance of nearby military forces to ensure the reliable transit and distribution of foodstuffs within the affected areas, with those aforesaid forces carrying out their activities as part of a larger statewide or nationwide policy. Speaking of which, higher-level authorities would naturally be responsible for temporarily restricting the movement of people throughout certain parts of the country, with it also being wise to conduct health screenings at transportation hubs to identify those who display symptoms.

Regular news updates from trusted sources are also a very important component of the containment response in order to reduce panic, counteract fake news and reassure the population that the government has everything under control. While some people might be able to work from home, others won't be able to, so it's expected that there will be some temporary decline in economic output from the regions most affected by the viral outbreak, though state banks could provide low-interest loans to help mitigate the overall impact.

Above all, nobody should ever lose sight of the fact that ensuring the public's safety is much more important than maintaining quarterly economic figures, and this is as relevant when talking about the national public as much as the global one. In the worst-case scenario, international lending institutions could provide emergency aid to countries where the economic consequences of this outbreak could have political implications. By learning from China's experiences over the past month, the world can prevent this from becoming a pandemic.

Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.