As the Trump White House has sought to politicize the virus outbreaks, vital time has been lost and collateral damage is likely to haunt the administration.

Cooperation is needed now more than ever. Political stereotypes should be abandoned, joint research should be fostered and critical supply chains should be protected.

Just as the COVID-2019 epidemic appears to be under control in China, new and serious outbreaks have occurred in South Korea, Italy, Japan, Iran and elsewhere. The virus seems to be ubiquitous and unstoppable. While I am hopeful that the epidemic in China will be over by the end of March, I begin to worry about the possibility of overseas visitors to China bringing the COVID-2019 virus back, starting another episode of the epidemic again. China cannot afford to have its hard-won and costly victory over the COVID-2019 virus annulled by a few infected visitors from abroad.

Last October, the 2019 Global Health Security Report included a stark warning: “National health security is fundamentally weak around the world. No country is fully prepared for epidemics or pandemics, and every country has important gaps to address.” Just a couple of months later, a new coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China – and quickly demonstrated the accuracy of the report’s assessment.

“In the wake of the coronavirus, CCP messaging has centered its messaging on three distinct themes: comparisons to the 2003 SARS outbreak, patriotic slogans, and distinctions between local mismanagement and centralized solutions. Whether this messaging will be successful at mitigating government critique remains to be seen.”

In early February 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to hail his excellent call with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the coronavirus outbreak. Trump called Xi a “strong, sharp and powerfully focused” leader who was successfully eradicating the coronavirus. That same day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington would spend up to $100 million to help Beijing curtail the virus, in addition to the nearly eighteen tons in medical supplies it had already sent to China.

When Dr Soumya Swaminathan was appointed Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization, she became the first-ever person to achieve this role. In the COVID-19 outbreak, she offers not only the skill and experience from 30 years in clinical care and research, but the ability to translate that into impactful programs shaped by equal parts of science and compassion. Last week in Geneva, she gathered the best in global science and R&D funders at a WHO meeting – as part of a wider action plan for the people of Wuhan, and beyond. But, as the weeks speed up, is there enough time to make a lasting difference?

Accolades flow from around the world as an unparalleled effort is made to contain the epidemic. Many countries offer to help as the central government pledges transparency.

Just when the daily number of newly confirmed COVID-2019 coronavirus cases seemed to have levelled off in China, it has an unexpected steep jump, from 2,015 to 15,152 on 12 February, or more than 750%. The overwhelming bulk of the increase came from the Province of Hubei, where the number of newly confirmed cases increased from 1,638 to 14,840 on 12 February.

The coronavirus crisis represents the single biggest challenge for Xi Jinping since he became general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012.