Tackling COVID-19: Insights from the Qinghai Province plague prevention and control (PPC) model

Plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, is a natural focus infectious disease. In China, plague is classified as category A, with the highest risk and hazard among the infectious diseases. Qinghai used to be considered as one of the most serious areas of plague in China. In recent years, thank to the measures in eight aspects summarized as the “Qinghai model” which were adopted to prevent and control the human plague in Qinghai, Qinghai has not experienced any plague case reported for eight years. In early 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbroke in China. The Qinghai model on plague was employed to deal with the COVID-19 emergency in Qinghai Province. The Qinghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Qinghai CDC) and hospitals, along with the departments of public security, animal husbandry and other departments, quickly tracked and treated the patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and started surveillance programs on close contacts timely. At present, the cure rate of patients has reached 100%, and close contacts have been effectively quarantined and tested to avoid the spread of COVID-19. The findings from the study suggest that the prevention and control measures undertaken in Qinghai Province might be effective in dealing with the category A infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and other diseases.