Objective: This paper aims to review the public health measures and actions taken during the fight against COVID-19 in China, to generate a model for prevention and control public health emergency by summarizing the lessons and experiences gained.

Methods: This paper adopts a widely accepted qualitative research and coding method to form an analysis on word materials.

Results: Although Chinese CDC didn’t work effectively in the early stages on risk identification and warning, China was able to respond quickly and successfully to this medical emergency after the initial shock of the awareness of a novel epidemic with a swift implementation of national-scale health emergency management.

Conclusions: The success in fighting against COVID-19 in China can be attributed to:

1) Adaptable governance to changing situations

The first reaction is to lockdown Wuhan city and cut off the infection of source. Second, to prevent and stop the spread of an epidemic countrywide, all provinces and cities launched a level-1 emergency. Third, all country-level ministries and commissions initiated prompt actions according to the changing situations.  

2) Culture of moral compliance with rules

Chinese people have a rooted traditional culture to comply with authority and social rules and conform to public moral standards. They used slogans such as “staying at home is fighting against COVID-19, staying at home is your contribution to the country” to persuade people on a moral level. Then 1.4 billion people were motivated and started self-quarantine except for medical staff and other community workers.

3) Trusted collaboration between government and people

Chinese government positively guided and strengthened the communication and interaction that integrated government and people into a substantial collaboration.

4) An advanced technical framework ABCD+5G (A-Artificial intelligence; B-Block chain; C-Cloud computing; D-Big data)

Various ABCD+5G technology has been used in this epidemic that effectively improved the efficiency of fighting against COVID-19.

Implications for public health: This paper constructs a conceptual model for pandemic management based on the lessons and experiences of fighting COVID-19 in China. It provides insights for pandemic control and public emergency management in similar context.

Key words: ABCD+5G, Public health emergencies, Emergency management, COVID-19, Pandemic