At the beginning of 2020, a new type of coronavirus appeared. It spread rapidly in human society and broke the normal rhythm of society. Within a year, it infected more than 40 million people worldwide and killed more than 1 million people.
So far, there have been many global pandemics in human history. Every time, human beings have suffered heavy casualties by small germs, and they have been defeated. This time in 2020, although human beings have entered a high-tech society, their performance against the virus is still not satisfactory. Why?
Comparison of New Coronavirus and SARS Virus
“Cunning” New Coronavirus
We named this menacing virus the new coronavirus. As the name suggests, this virus belongs to our “old friend”-the coronavirus family. However, the new crown virus is better than blue because it is blue, and it is more “cunning” than its other companions.
From the beginning of 2020 until the end of the year, the new crown virus has ravaged human society wildly for a whole year, and there is no sign of disappearing. People can’t help but think of its “twin brother”-SARS coronavirus. Seventeen years ago, the SARS virus also invaded human society fiercely. At that time, we were prepared for this new type of virus and we were prepared to fight hard. The strange thing is that a few months later, after the SARS virus infected thousands of people and harvested hundreds of lives, it was “received”, as if it had never appeared before. Why is this?
It was not until the emergence of the new crown virus that we had some understanding of the reason why the SARS virus was so “vulnerable”. The new coronavirus is the same as the SARS virus. They have crown-shaped bumps on their coats-the S spike protein. The virus relies on this protein to bind to the ACE2 receptor of human cells and break through the cell’s defenses before it can enter the cell. After the virus enters the cell, it will insert its own genetic material into the cell’s genome, allowing the cell to act like a factory and continuously replicate more new viruses in accordance with the instructions of the virus’s genetic information. It can be seen that the “combat power” of the virus mainly depends on its ability to break through the cell line of defense (infectivity) and kill cells (toxicity). On these two points, there are some differences between the new coronavirus and the SARS virus.
Although the S-spike protein of the new coronavirus and SARS virus is only slightly different, it is still invisible under the eyes of scientists: the S-spike protein of the new coronavirus has one more restriction site than that of the SARS virus. If the S spike protein is compared to the key to open the cell door, because of this additional site, the key’s ability to “deform” is improved, and the ability to match the cell is higher. Therefore, the new coronavirus can invade more human cells. However, from another point of view, the combination of new coronavirus and cells is not as stable as SARS virus, because the combination of new coronavirus and cells requires more energy, just like two twisted gears. If twisting requires more power , The less force is needed to separate them.
What does this mean? Compared with the SARS virus, the new coronavirus can invade more cells, but its aggressive action is not so “strong” and it is relatively harder to enter the cells, so the symptoms of the initial infection are not so obvious. In this way, the infected person will not be alert, and it is easy to miss the diagnosis and misdiagnosis when the test is performed, and the virus can be transmitted to more people without knowing it. This shows that the new coronavirus is more infectious than SARS.
In addition, because the SARS virus has a greater binding force with cells, it is easier to cause the immune system to alert, and the immune response it causes is also stronger, so that the virus itself is also difficult to survive in the host. The immune response caused by the new coronavirus is relatively mild, and people with weaker immune systems are more likely to be recruited. After being recruited, the immune system’s ability to clear the virus is not strong, the virus survives for a long time, and the cycle of the entire illness is longer.
It is precisely because the new crown virus is more “cunning” that this “offensive and defensive war” saw a much longer period than SARS caused by the SARS virus.
China: Strictly guard against the epidemic and successfully fight the epidemic
In addition to the “siege ability” of the virus, human defense strategies also determine the success or failure of an offensive and defensive war.
At the beginning of 2003, in the early stage of the SARS outbreak, due to people’s ignorance of the virus, opaque information, imperfect rules and regulations, and weak prevention and control measures, the virus spread smoothly in China for several months. There are dozens of provinces and cities across the country. Thousands of people are infected. The turning point began in April 2003. The government began to disclose data on the SARS epidemic. The epidemic area was quarantined and the entire population prevented and controlled SARS. This effectively controlled the spread of the epidemic. In June, the virus completely disappeared in China.
In the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government has well learned the experience and lessons of SARS, and implemented what can be called a “textbook” prevention and control measures: a strong leadership core has formulated and guaranteed strict epidemic prevention measures, and the whole people have cooperated and cooperated with each other. Support the implementation of epidemic prevention work, and high-tech technology helps prevent epidemics. The city of Wuhan was closed for 76 days and the country’s home for more than a month, and finally successfully cut off the transmission chain of the virus, making the new crown virus basically extinct in China, and China became the first country in the world to defeat the new crown virus.
China’s anti-epidemic black technology: 5G cloud medical assistant robot
The strong leadership of the Communist Party of China is the fundamental guarantee for China to overcome the epidemic. At the beginning of the epidemic, the Party Central Committee attached great importance to it and quickly made correct decisions and deployments. Party committees and governments at all levels are actively acting, and the majority of party members and cadres are fighting ahead and charging the front line, building the first line of defense for epidemic prevention and control. The socialist system with Chinese characteristics is an important magic weapon to defeat the epidemic. During the lockdown period of Wuhan, the whole country supported Hubei Province and Wuhan City. The central government directly allocated more than 100 billion yuan. Medical technology equipment, medical protective materials, life support materials, and basic production materials were continuously shipped to Hubei.
The victory of the new crown pneumonia epidemic prevention battle cannot be achieved without the cooperation of the broad masses of people. Many people are not afraid of danger and sacrifice. They work on the front lines of the battle against the epidemic: medical staff who rescue the wounded and injured, construction workers who work on-line, security personnel who maintain order, and courier brothers who deliver materials… They have built the most reliable The People’s Defense Line. In the strict quarantine measures, more people reported understanding and support for related policies, consciously staying at home voluntarily, and blocking the spread of the virus at the expense of freedom.
The use of high and new technology has avoided unnecessary contact to the greatest extent and reduced the spread of the virus. On January 31, 2020, China Telecom and Huawei jointly built the first “remote consultation” network platform in Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital. More infectious disease experts can participate in the treatment of emergency and severe patients through network consultation. On February 3, the first batch of 5G cloud medical assistant robots, disinfection and cleaning robots, intelligent transportation robots and 5G patrol temperature measurement robots were sent to hospitals in Wuhan and Shanghai. Robots can replace medical staff to complete some dangerous tasks, such as nursing, temperature measurement and disinfection, effectively reducing the risk of cross-infection of personnel. The emergence of intelligent transportation vehicles such as drones and unmanned vehicles not only effectively alleviated the transportation pressure in the hardest-hit areas of the epidemic, but also completed epidemic monitoring and epidemic prevention knowledge publicity.
In just four months, China defeated the new crown virus. It is the successful implementation of each of the above measures that guaranteed China’s final victory in this “offensive and defensive war” with the new crown virus.
Europe: different strategies, different consequences
Just when we thought that the new crown epidemic was about to pass and cheered for mankind’s first efficient and rapid defeat of the new virus, something unexpected happened and the new crown virus spread to the world. However, even though China’s example is at hand, not every country can replicate it perfectly.
European countries are like China during the SARS period. Their ignorance and negligence of the new coronavirus have cost them a huge price.
The UK can be described as a model of passive anti-epidemic. In the early stage of the fight against the epidemic, the government implemented a “herd immunity” strategy. Experts believe that COVID-19 is like the flu. People can fight off the disease with their own immunity, and 80% of the people in the group can be cured to ensure that all people are immune You don’t need to worry about it at all. Under such a policy of inaction, Prime Minister Johnson “gloriously” became the world’s first head of state to be recruited, and he walked through the door.
There is no “mask order” in the UK during the period of herd immunity
In contrast, the German government pays more attention to the new crown virus. They are very concerned about the outbreak in China and notified them in time, conducted a large number of nucleic acid tests to check cases, and strictly isolated suspected cases, but the German people did not seem to buy it. Due to the lack of strict lockdown measures and the high degree of freedom of entry and exit of EU countries, the German people travel freely in the hardest-hit areas of the epidemic-Austria and Italy. In addition, a large number of infected cases have been imported from other countries. In the beginning, the number of patients in Germany increased sharply.
With the rapid development of the epidemic, European countries have finally begun to fight the epidemic seriously. The British government has changed its “relaxed” response measures and implemented a strict “new crown quarantine law”. Violators will receive legal sanctions. Spain adopted a nationwide blockade, and the capital, Madrid, even nationalized private hospitals and used military forces to implement the blockade. Italy has imposed almost complete blockades on citizens in time and space. Only supermarkets and pharmacies are open to the public, as well as curfews and travel restrictions. Germany has formulated stricter regulations on wearing masks, private gatherings, and restrictions on alcohol purchases… European people’s efforts have not been in vain, and the epidemic has gradually seen turning points and has begun to ease.
The United States: A chaotic anti-epidemic model
In the face of the epidemic, the capitalist supreme America has revealed its true colors. During the development of the epidemic, the top priority of American politicians is not to save people with all their efforts, but to save the market with all their energy and resources, and to use their main energy and financial resources to stabilize the market. In order to protect the economy, they have never issued a public plan and strategy to deal with the epidemic.
Moreover, as a federal country, most of the administrative power of the United States is in the hands of state and local governments, and the anti-epidemic policy, including the anti-epidemic policy, cannot be completely determined by the federal government. So we see that the United States is like “schizophrenia”, with different states and different cities and counties adopting completely different epidemic prevention strategies: Minnesota allows private testing companies to carry out virus tests on the roadside, while Florida has set up strict tests. Conditions; New York State has issued the “strictest travel restriction order”, and beaches in Maryland and other places are still crowded during holidays; private schools in many cities and counties in California, Nebraska and other states have closed their classes, but public schools have been closed. School starts…The epidemic prevention measures are different from state to state, and there are no travel restrictions between states, which has caused the epidemic to spread across the United States one after another.
Coupled with inadequate preparations, limited medical supplies, and poor organization and management, despite having the most complete medical system, the most advanced science and technology, and the strongest material reserves, it is inevitable that the US epidemic will get out of control.
Of course, in addition to developed countries, the failure of many developing countries to control the epidemic is inseparable from their backward medical standards. Ability and lack of determination, determination and inability, may be the root cause of the failure of other countries to fight the epidemic.
People in Ohio, the U.S. are protesting against the stay-at-home order imposed by the state government to fight the epidemic
The 21st century is a globalized society. No country can survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Only with the concerted efforts of all mankind can we truly defeat the COVID-19 virus.
