Increased testing means large-scale spread of COVID-19 not possible: expert

With increased testing capability nationwide, it is no longer possible for large-scale spread of the novel coronavirus in China, according to a leading COVID-19 expert in Shanghai.

"China successfully brought the epidemic under control during the most challenging times earlier this year, and now it's basically impossible for the virus to spread afar as testing capability has been beefed up, although scattered COVID-19 cases emerged in several regions," Zhang Wenhong, leader of the Shanghai team of experts in the clinical treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia cases, was quoted as saying in a report by local news portal thePaper.

The probability of another pandemic peak in the country depends on whether there will be many cases with an unknown source, said Zhang, who also is director of Infectious Disease Department at Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University in Shanghai.

There are numerous species of virus in the natural world and nobody will ever know when a particular type of virus will be woken up by human activity, he said.

"We won't be able to forecast when the next epidemic will arrive and triggered by what type of virus. What we can do is to elevate the ability to respond to such emergencies," said Zhang during a lecture held by a Fudan University institute on Monday.

It is also of great significance to improve comprehensive power of relevant clinical departments and the discipline of infectious diseases to empower scientists with better capability of identifying the virus, he said.