As the death toll and number of pneumonia cases from the new strain of coronavirus continue to rise within China and the disease spreads overseas, Beijing’s promise of transparency and cooperation with the international community is reassuring. Chinese President Xi Jinping at his meeting this week with the World Health Organisation chief said China will strengthen international cooperation and welcome WHO participation in virus prevention. The WHO later said that the Chinese authorities have agreed to allow the world body to send a team of international experts to China to increase understanding of the virus and guide the global response. This has come after Beijing repeatedly turned down offers of help from the United States and other nations, a change of heart that is to be welcomed. This is especially as there had been missteps in the early days of the outbreak that possibly contributed to the spread of the virus not only to the far-flung reaches of the vast country, but also to more than a dozen countries in the Asian region and beyond.

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By the admission of the mayor of Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak and a major transport hub – information about the disease was not disclosed in timely fashion and the local government did not make effective use of the information to deal with the situation. Since mid-January, however, both the central and local governments have taken increasingly stringent measures to contain the spread of the virus domestically and overseas.

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