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BEIJING: China passed a new law to improve its handling of disease outbreaks, including whistleblower protection, following a cascade of criticism over its response to the coronavirus and allegations of an early cover-up.
The new biosafety law, approved by legislators on Saturday (October 17), establishes the right to report “acts that endanger biosafety” and requires risk prevention systems, ranging from active monitoring to safety plans. emergency.
It comes into force as of April 15 of next year.
“Any work unit or individual has the right to report acts that endanger biosecurity,” says the regulation.
“When a report is required in accordance with the law, no individual or work unit should conceal it or prevent others from making a report,” he added on infectious diseases and epidemics.
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China’s passage of the law comes in the face of Western criticism of COVID-19, over accusations that it covered up the initial outbreak and silenced the first whistleblowers.
But China has been trying to reshape this narrative, and authorities have instead sought to model the country as a vanguard in the fight against the pandemic.
Although doctor Li Wenliang, who alerted colleagues to the novel coronavirus in late December, was reprimanded at first, a wave of national grief and anger over his death prompted Beijing to redirect criticism at local officials and, subsequently, paint him as a hero.
President Xi Jinping in February raised the need to speed up the establishment of the biosafety law and called for reforming mechanisms to prevent large outbreaks.
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Under the new law, those withholding information, skipping reports or preventing others from reporting infectious diseases could receive warnings or be suspended.
The new law also requires systems to regularly monitor biosecurity risks and trace the origin of incidents.
Disease prevention agencies must also help predict the occurrence and prevalence of emerging diseases.
Based on these predictions, authorities should announce warnings and take preventive measures.
Although Beijing established an information system after the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak that allowed for real-time reporting of the outbreaks, provincial authorities were criticized during the coronavirus outbreak for perceived incompetence, including delays in announcing the health emergency. public.
The new biosecurity law also targets the management of research facilities, signaling the need for emergency plans for biosecurity incidents.
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