JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

During the outbreak of COVID-19 in China at the beginning of 2020, over 80 000 patients were confirmed. Public prevention and control measures as well as the joint efforts in all sectors of society were under taken to control and eliminate the transmission of the infection. Since 20 January, a large health education campaign was mounted to educate Chinese on adoption of appropriate behaviors to avoid being infected. Nationwide, the spread of the virus has been effectively curbed.

Objective:

The aim of this article is to describe Chinese citizens’ responses and strategies to avoid being infected, public strategies carried out by government and health workers, and the epidemic trend of COVID-19 in China. We hope the lessons and experiences that China draw from the epidemic can be shared with other countries where COVID-19 is spreading.

Methods:

A nationwide internet-based survey through “Ding Xiang Doctor” WeChat public site were executed. Information on public strategies to control the epidemic and data of new COVID-19 cases to describe the epidemic trend in China were also collected from internet, mainly from government websites. Univariate variate and multivariate analysis were conducted for data analysis.

Results:

A total of 10 304 internet users participated in the survey, with 10 198 valid responses. Of the participants, 74.1% were female, and 25.9% were male. Overall, 98.2% of participants expressed highly attention on the epidemic, and WeChat was their main information source on the epidemic (92.2%). Over half participants were confident in curbing the COVID-19 epidemic in China, among which 29.6% participants were strongly confident. As for personal preventive strategies, 92.4% participants opened window for ventilation more frequently than usual, 99.4% participants used mask in public, 95.7% participants avoided large crowds and stay at home as much as possible, 97.9% participants washed hands more often than usual, and women were more likely to carry out these preventive strategies (P<0.01). Almost one third of participants always stayed at home during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, and the most common place participants had been to was supermarkets or shopping malls. With a series of tough public control measures, like nationwide health education campaign, holiday extension, Examine and Approve Policy on resumption of work, close management in working and living place, Health QR code system, community screening, social distancing policies, the number of new cases decreased dramatically since 12 February.

Conclusions:

What Chinese have done to curb the spread of coronavirus is effective. The epidemic of COVID-19 can be brought under control as long as the right measures are taken.