The coronavirus epidemic has revealed weaknesses in China’s public health system, a Chinese health official said on Saturday, in a rare public admission of deficiency from within the authoritarian government.
“It’s a big test of our country’s capacity and system of governance. While we are dealing with the epidemic, it has revealed that China still has weaknesses in major epidemic prevention and control systems (as well as) public health systems,” Li Bin, deputy head of the National Health Commission, said during a press conference on Saturday.
Li said China will now improve its disease prevention, public health system and data collection operations.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has repeatedly lashed out at China over its handling of the outbreak, questioning its death toll and criticizing its early response to the virus.
China reported 14 new cases of novel coronavirus as of May 9, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 82,901, according to the National Health Commission.
