US health expert: China's efforts against COVID-19 encouraging

Wafaa El-Sadr, a leading U.S. public health expert, says China's efforts to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are encouraging in several aspects, while underscoring the importance of international cooperation and coordination in addressing such a major outbreak. (Xinhua/Zhang Mocheng)

NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's efforts to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are encouraging in several aspects, a leading public health expert has said.

"It's very heartening to see how quickly Chinese scientists were able to identify the sequence of the virus" and published it rapidly thereafter, said Wafaa El-Sadr, director of the Global Health Initiative at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.