WUHAN — A series of decisive measures taken by the Chinese government over the last two months helped Wuhan, the worst-hit city by COVID-19 in China, achieve a high cure rate and a low mortality rate, according to an official with the National Health Commission.

Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission, said the measures included applying quarantine policy, dispatching medical workers to Hubei, building makeshift hospitals, treating patients in severe condition with the country's best resources and making full use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

According to Jiao, the novel coronavirus is highly contagious with concealed pathogenesis and atypical symptoms, making it hard to identify the source of infection.

Facing the huge challenge of the strained medical resources, more than 42,000 medics were assembled, and 16 temporary hospitals were converted from gymnasiums and convention centers in Wuhan.

During the peak period of the epidemic, Wuhan has a total of 60,000 hospital beds to meet the surging demand for medical resources. "This is one of the reasons that we have a rather high patient cure rate and a low mortality rate," Jiao said.

"Mortality rate is highly related to the treatment of intensive care patients," Jiao said, noting that authorities have used the best resources in the country to reduce the fatality rate.

Jiao pointed out that another highlight of China's COVID-19 treatment is the prompt intervention of the TCM in the whole process of treatment, which has been proved especially effective in alleviating early symptoms and shortening the time that patients needed to be tested negative.

Timely control and quarantine measures — the shutdown of outbound channels in Wuhan and Hubei after the outbreak, along with the allocation and transfer of funds, pooling resources from other parts of the country to guarantee the normal lives of local residents — also played a positive role in curbing the spread of the virus," Jiao added.