The COVID-19 epidemic has had an immediate impact on the Chinese and the world economy, since the national economies are significantly more interlinked now than when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) hit 17 years ago, and China plays a more significant role in the current world economy. While the epidemic put a damper on industries like transport and tourism, rapid growth has been registered in burgeoning sectors such as online shopping, food, and entertainment2 . Concurrently, the COVID-19 epidemic will have a long-term impact on China's capacity-building and biosecurity system for public health emergencies, and may even be a watershed moment.