A glimpse of patients' daily lives in Wuchang Fangcang makeshift hospital Photo: Cui Meng/GT

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that China is promoting the capacity of sports stadiums, exhibition halls and other public facilities to be used for emergency purposes, following the experience of using makeshift hospitals amid the COVID-19 epidemic. 

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Meng Wei, spokesperson for the NDRC, said that the commission together with related authorities has worked out a plan for improving the medical material support mechanism for public health emergencies, as well as creating a security system composed of emergency disease prevention and treatment, storage and rapid production of medical materials.

On April 27, China adopted the Act of The Implementation Plan on Improving the Public Health Emergency Material Support System, aiming to solve the existing problems and loopholes in the system and systematically improving the ability to cope with public health emergencies. Meng said China is focusing on three aspects in particular.

The first one is based on disease prevention. According to Meng, China will increase the construction and investment in disease control institutions and biosafety laboratories at all levels, through improving equipment configuration and ensuring that every province has at least one biosafety laboratory at level 3, so as to significantly improve its surveillance and early warning capacity for major disease outbreaks.

She also noted that there will be more national and regional medical centers for infectious disease treatment. With the building of treatment bases for epidemics at the provincial and city levels, the rapid response and medical treatment at the grass-roots level will be bolstered. 

Further, she stressed the importance of makeshift hospitals in epidemic treatment, asking for the upgrading of stadiums and other public facilities to meet the needs of rapid adaptation for treatment and sheltering when crises come. 

Medical institutions, enterprises and residents will also be encouraged to increase reserves of medical equipment and emergency supplies, and enterprises will be encouraged to improve their emergency production capacity for medical supplies and equipment.

Ren Jianming, a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management at Beihang University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the resurgence of the coronavirus in Beijing shows it is essential for China to bolster its ability to deal with public health emergencies. 

At Tuesday's press conference, the health authorities of Beijing reported another 27 confirmed cases in China's capital, bringing the total to 106. They also said 29 communities were under lockdown as confirmed COVID-19 cases continued to rise, and that the epidemic situation was "very grim."

"The latest guidelines demonstrate China's ability and determination to make long-term preparations to deal with public health emergencies and infectious diseases," said Yang, noting that with greater human mobility and climate change, the likelihood of epidemics in the future is high.

In addition, China needs to increase the investment in the cultivation of professionals in epidemiology and public health management, Ren said.