Largest-scale public health emergency exercise organized in Guiyang

The municipal government and health bureau of Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, jointly launched a live, simulated large-scale emergency exercise on Nov 19 to examine local preparedness for health crises. 

The event, sponsored by the provincial health commission, appeared to be the largest emergency health rescue exercise conducted in Guizhou in recent years and involved the most participants. 

The coordination skills of 16 teams and the municipal and provincial emergency response mechanisms were tested.

The teams came from various departments specializing in first aid, poison treatment, psychological intervention in crises, and more.

The exercise was comprised of a mock hazardous chemical leakage accident and a drill for handling COVID-19 cases. 

In the hazardous chemical release scenario, rescue forces arrived at the scene as soon as they were informed and quickly rescued people who were injured or trapped, evacuated crowds, blocked leaks, and diluted the toxic gas in the air.

In another drill, a quick survey located a couple who recently returned from a COVID-19 high-risk area and put them under isolation at a designated hotel, where they were tested for COVID-19.

As soon as the "positive" test results came out, Guizhou immediately initiated an emergency response and carried out a series of measures, including risk area management and control, contact tracing, quarantine and patient transfers, regional coordination, nucleic acid screening, and epidemic-related information updating.