ASEAN, China exchange practices to better manage coronavirus disease 2019

JAKARTA, 20 February 2020 – As part of the continued efforts to stop the spread of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), health officials and clinical experts from ASEAN Member States and China conducted a special video conference today.

Utilising the ASEAN Emergency Operations Centre Network for public health emergencies knowledge-sharing platform led by Malaysia, the conference aimed to exchange practices and challenges in the clinical management of the COVID-19 cases and how to mitigate its impact to communities.

The conference started with presentations from China and Singapore on the latest outbreak updates in their countries and the overall response and measures to respond to it, with a focus on the clinical management of cases.

The presentations were followed by open discussion and exchange of views on detection and diagnosis through clinical, laboratory or radiological procedures; treatment, including trials using antivirals or convalescent plasma; personal protection for patients and health workers; discharge procedures; as well as co-infection and re-infection.

Furthermore, participants stressed the importance of the development of workflow protocols that cover identification, isolation, de-isolation of suspects and confirmed cases, including treatment algorithms.

They also noted China’s proposal to further the ASEAN-China cooperation public health emergency preparedness and response through knowledge and information sharing, human resource development, as well as operational preparedness and response through the establishment of the ASEAN-China Emergency Operations Network.