A cured coronavirus patient receives blood oxygen checking at the rehabilitation center based in the Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 10, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

China's Wuhan, the city with the most serious COVID-19 situation, could "clear all infected cases to zero" by the end of March, if all the work for epidemic prevention and control is implemented strictly and no emergencies happen such as infected people coming from overseas, said a leading epidemiologist based in Wuhan.

Li Lanjuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert with the National Health Commission, is leading her team to cure patients and research the virus on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19. "When the clinical tests are concluded, we will have more antiviral drugs with better effect" against COVID-19, she said in an interview with People's Daily in Wuhan.

As the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting many countries around the globe, Li noted that China's technology, approach and experience could provide effective assistance to other countries in dealing with the epidemic situation.

To what extent other countries can effectively handle the situation depends on how much importance they attach to it, she noted. Their populations may be smaller than China but if their governments and people don't treat it seriously and are unable to effectively quarantine the source of infection, the outbreak will spread further. 

Currently, dozens of Chinese provinces and municipalities have recorded "zero increase" in confirmed cases, but the work on virus prevention and control cannot be eased, and they should strictly avoid infections coming in from overseas, Li stressed.