Zhang Hao, Zong Wei,He Yongjie

Infectious diseases have long been among the top four health security threats that humans need to face globally. Undoubtedly, novel coronavirus is already impacting economic growth, global stock markets, trade and travel, industrial outputs and sales.

As a challenge to global public health security, novel coronavirus-induced pneumonia infectious diseases are threatening all the countries in the subcontinent.

According to the Official Reports of China, the deaths due to the novel coronavirus has now exceeded 250. There have been over 11800 confirmed cases, 17900 suspected cases and 248 people have recovered and discharged so far (February 1, 2020). Meanwhile, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh with their dense population and travel and trade ties with China keep high risk of the coronavirus dissemination.

On January 24th, 2020, the Nepal Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus.

On January 26th, new suspected cases of the same coronavirus appeared in Multan, and then the total number of suspected cases of the new coronavirus in Pakistan reached five.  On January 31st, the Ministry of Health and Family in India confirmed a case with the new coronavirus in Kerala and over ten people were under medical surveillance.

Obviously, there are various signs that the virus has begun to spread across the subcontinent.  Such non-traditional security issues are challenging disease defense system all over the region.

On the account of large population in South Asia, the confirmed case will have the direct and wide impact on the countries adjacent to China, especially the India. China assures India of the cooperation in epidemic prevention and control. On January 23rd, China kept closely watching the report about one confirmed case of the Coronavirus in India, and assured the cooperation with the Indian side in jointly strengthening the epidemic notification, prevention and control.

Due to the similar population size and density as China, India is urgent to improve the quarantine surveillance and notification mechanism for the epidemic.  According to statistics of lethal diseases in India, respiratory diseases and tuberculosis were ranked second and third, respectively, accounting for 10.2% and 10.1% of fatality rates, just behind cardiovascular diseases.

High-density population settlements and relatively sanitation facilities deficit have made obstacles to disease forewarn, prevention and treatment.

The global spread of the novel coronavirus exposes the many loopholes and deficiencies in the current public security defence system represented by infectious diseases. Coordination and mutual learning at the international level are particularly vital. Several thoughts are considered here as follows:

Firstly, South Asian countries including India should established comprehensive notification mechanisms for confirmed and suspected cases with China to ensure information flow regionally.

At present, the relevant information of the epidemic situation is updated rapidly and the establishment of information interconnection and sharing mechanism are imperative. The notification of the epidemic situation in various countries is relatively scattered.

Based on changes in the epidemic situation of relevant areas, multiple countries can establish an extensive notification platform of confirmed and suspected cases, which is convenient for the people in various countries in the region to check the relevant data and increase awareness of protection.

In the era of social media and rapid spread of even unsubstantiated information, more attention to the impact of such information should be paid.

Secondly, the intensity of quarantine of suspected cases should be upgraded. Based on multi-country consultations, strict controls including international air routes, water routes and land borders should be implemented to reduce cross-infection caused by people flow.

It should be noted that the trade in goods related to the supply of people's livelihoods among countries should be ensured as few restrictions as possible due to epidemic control and mitigate the risk of social disorder caused by the tight supply.

Thirdly, the multilateral cooperation in the field of vaccine research and development are impendent. China and India could have learned from each other in terms of epidemic control, especially in the development of vaccines.  Since a number of accumulated cured cases, China can share and cooperate with South Asian countries in drug and vaccine development.

Fourthly, the animal markets lacked health protection should be brought into supervision and regulation of Government. For a long period of time, the majority of developing countries, animal slaughter and the sale of live agricultural products were under inadequate health and safety supervision measures. Although various regulations had been introduced at the government level, there were still many blind gaps in the implementation.

Poor condition of sanitation is a catalyst for the spread of the epidemic. The large scale of epidemic spread will gradually change the traditional way of fresh products circulation.

Finally, on the perspective of defence and prevention of global health security, the urban governance of large cities needs to be further optimized and improved. In view of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, which has a population of more than 10 million, and the spread to the world, it puts forward new requirements for epidemic prevention, municipal construction related to public health security in very large cities around the world.

Cities with a permanent population of more than 10 million include Delhi, Mumbai, Karachi, and Dhaka in South Asia.  How to strengthen the public health security of large cities in the region is a complicated task that must be faced and tackled with in the future.

Nowadays, it is emergent to establish a joint prevention and control system between China and South Asian countries unhesitatingly. With regard to this rare epidemic of infectious diseases in recent years, the governance capabilities of governments and societies are being tested.

In the short term, as South Asian countries with large population and still under development, they should cooperate with their neighbors and the World Health Organization to make adequate preparation for the prevention, quarantine, diagnosis and treatment in a small range before epidemic spreads further.

In the long term, countries in the region must concentrate on putting the public health security into the constructing process of regional collective security mechanisms.

Zhang Hao is a scholar at Sichuan University Jincheng College, China

Zong Wei is a scholar at Kunming Institute for advanced Information Studies, P. R. China

He Yongjie is a student at Yunnan University Institute of International Relations ,China