Drawing on COVID lessons, China passes law to improve emergency response

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BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top lawmakers on Friday passed a bill to quicken public health emergency responses by empowering individuals and allowing them to report emergencies, bypassing the government’s usual hierarchical structure.

The law will take effect from November 1, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, original epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, was accused of dragging its feet on reporting the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus in late 2019.

An ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan shared information about the disease in early 2020 but was reprimanded by local police for “spreading rumours”. He died a month later, triggering a wave of public mourning and anger.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Beijing has required faster local action for public health emergencies and improved early detection and containment.

Any individual or unit who discovers a public health emergency can bypass intermediate levels to report the incident to the local government or the disease prevention and control agency, according to a draft of the law.

After a public health emergency occurs, the county government where the incident takes place should immediately initiate response efforts and can report to an even higher authority if needed, the draft says.

During an emergency response to a public health event, local governments at or above the county level should provide basic medical services, offer special care and ensure medical care, it says.

According to the World Health Organization, as of the end of 2023, up to 21 million people might have died of COVID-19 worldwide, exceeding the official tally of around 7 million.

(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Tom Hogue)