Reporter: Chen Sisi, thepaper.cn When will the epidemic in China be thoroughly controlled, or will it relapse? This issue has attracted much attention. On the evening of March 22, Zhang Wenhong said in an interview with thepaper.cn that China has basically put the novel coronavirus epidemic under control in the first phase after making great efforts in about two months. In many regions across the country, there are no newly reported COVID-19 cases. For example, no local confirmed cases have been reported in Shanghai for more than 20 days. But the scenario in China still hinges on the effectiveness of global epidemic prevention and control. “Prevention and control of the epidemic requires involvement of all countries across the entire world. No country can stand alone. Whether or not the global epidemic can be controlled does not depend on the country with the best epidemic control results, but the country with the worst control results,” said Zhang. Will the epidemic situation in China relapse due to the influence of the global epidemic? Zhang said that it depends on three major factors. First, will COVID-19 patients relapse or become chronically infected with the virus after being discharged from hospital in our country or region? Secondly, are there any patients with asymptomatic infections in our population? The third is the risk of imported cases. As for the first factor, Zhang said that initial observations showed patients didn’t experience relapses or spread the virus to other people after being discharged from hospital. As for the second factor, Zhang said that the incubation period of the COVID-19 is two weeks. Patients infected with the virus usually test positive within two weeks. If two weeks are not deemed enough, then suspected patients may undergo observation for three or four weeks. Nationwide, no new cases have been reported in many regions in more than two weeks, and Shanghai even saw no new local cases in three weeks. Therefore, risks are not high now. Patients with asymptomatic infections generally occurred during the peak period in the epidemic. The longer time when no new cases are reported, the lower possibility that there are patients with asymptomatic infections. Currently, Shanghai has 117 fever clinics and has newly set up 182 fever consultation rooms in community health service centers. If there are family-based transmissions or a cluster of cases, these patients will definitely be identified, but so far no such cases have been detected. For the third factor, Zhang pointed out that currently the biggest risk comes from imported infections. Whether the risk can be properly managed and controlled depends on the fortitude of the three defense lines we’ve built, namely customs quarantine, community prevention and control, as well as fever clinics in major medical institutions.  “At present, China’s customs and quarantine work are conducted in a more active manner from a global perspective.” He added that community prevention and control is also very well done. He then called on inbound passengers to comply with China’s “home quarantine” directive to minimize the potential risks of cross-infection among surrounding population. This is also for the sake of the entire community after the 14-day quarantine period draws to an end. Chinese communities are like a big family, and this is also a reflection of the Chinese culture. Zhang believed that at the end of the day, everybody gets to understand the significance of stringent community prevention and control measures. In addition, he also pointed out that a total of 117 fever clinics were set up in Shanghai in the early phase of the city’s prevention and control of imported cases from other parts of China, but the final number of confirmed cases reached only 300. In order to complement the strategy of preventing imported cases from abroad, an addition of 182 diagnosis rooms in community health service centers were launched on top of the existing 117 fever clinics in the city. This means that we are now in a better position in epidemic prevention. “Once people develop symptoms such as fever, they can find fever clinics nearby anytime. And once they are confirmed as COVDI-19 cases, which aren’t detected by previous rounds of checks, we are able to trace and isolate the patient’s close contacts, thus forging a third defense line.” Currently, how should Shanghai and the whole country cope with the development of the epidemic? Zhang said we should reap the fruit of the first stage of China’s epidemic prevention and control endeavors, while preventing imported cases at the same time. No report of new local cases for consecutive two weeks and above indicates that the city stays relatively safe. It’s also highly necessary that we normalize our life and work at this point. This is also the reward we gain from the rather draconian measures we’ve implemented in the early stage. People stand to gradually get their work and life back on track in a relatively safe environment.