China's control measures prevent tens of thousands of infections: Spokesperson

China's prevention and control measures have altered the dangerous course of COVID-19's quick spread and prevented tens of thousands of infections nationwide, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

A staff member of the customs checks the health declaration information of a newly arrived inbound passenger in Chongqing, southwest China, March 29, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked to comment on a paper recently published by the journal Science, which believes the control measures worked by successfully breaking the chain of transmission and preventing contact between infectious and susceptible people and bought other cities valuable time.

One of the paper's authors, an Oxford fellow, said that without the Wuhan travel ban and the national emergency response by the Chinese government, there would have been more than 700,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of Wuhan by February 19.

"The paper's findings are consistent with WHO's view and the consensus of many countries' leaders and experts," Hua told a regular press briefing.

The Chinese government took the most comprehensive, thorough and rigorous prevention and control measures at the earliest time possible, which have been proven to be highly effective at the current stage, she said.

"Our efforts bought precious time for the world to prepare for the pandemic," said Hua. "Just as WHO puts it, China has taken the most courageous, most flexible and most active prevention and control measures, which altered the dangerous course of the virus' quick spread and prevented tens of thousands of infections nationwide."

China stands ready to further international cooperation in fighting the pandemic and share experience with other countries to defeat the virus as soon as possible and safeguard regional and global public health security, she added.