Brazilian health experts say China's response to coronavirus outbreak 'swift'

China's response to the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV outbreak in its central Hubei province has been remarkably swift, Brazilian health experts have said.

"Chinese authorities reacted swiftly when they became aware of the seriousness of the matter, closing off Wuhan (the epicenter of the outbreak and capital of Hubei province) to avoid more infections," Joao Guimaraes, of the Santa Maria Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, told Xinhua.

"Everything I have read about what is being done seems reasonable and right to me," said Guimaraes.

Jose David Urbaez Brito, scientific director at the Federal District branch of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases, said China has taken actions at an unprecedented speed.

"The response has been swift. As a result of (China's) technological development, for example, the sequencing of the virus was carried out in the span of a week. That does not usually happen in these situations," said Urbaez.

"I think they are handling things very systematically, very properly in scientific terms," Urbaez noted.

Infectious disease expert Ana Ferreira said China's rapid response to the novel coronavirus outbreak will serve as a model for countries' future handling of virus outbreaks, including curbing virus spread.

"The example to follow is after identifying the epicenter of the virus (outbreak), the Chinese government succeeded in isolating millions of people to prevent new infections," Ferreira said.

"Acting swiftly is vital in such a case," she said.