COVID-19 handbook published in English

Medical workers prepare to transfer a COVID-19 patient in severe and critical condition who is undergoing Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation to the Intensive Care Unit ward at the Zhongfaxincheng campus of Tongji Hospital affiliated to Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, April 12, 2020. (Photo/Xinhua)

Netherlands-based information analytics company Elsevier, in cooperation with Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, published on Monday the English edition of a guidebook written by top Chinese medical experts on the prevention and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book, COVID-19: The Essentials of Prevention and Treatment, is also available in electronic form, and medical professionals can download it for free at the Elsevier information resource center online.

In the early stages of the pandemic, the Chinese Thoracic Society and the Chinese Association of Chest Physicians collated the key concerns front-line medics faced at work and initiated a series of lectures on an online platform to address those concerns.

The highlights of these lectures, which brought together experts in multiple fields, including respiratory and critical care medicine, were later published in Chinese in April by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, according to Qu Jieming, one of the three editors-in-chief of the book and Party secretary of Ruijin Hospital, which is affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

"Chinese medical workers have gained valuable experience in the prevention and treatment of the pandemic in the past few months," Zhong Nanshan, a prominent respiratory disease expert, said in a video message at the publication ceremony held in Shanghai on Monday.

"The English edition of the book will be a practical guide for medical workers across the world to contain the pandemic," he said.

According to Li Lin, chief executive of Elsevier in China, the book, like other academic works published on the platform, has undergone a rigorous review by experts to guarantee its accuracy and scientific value.

"Experts have given positive feedback and they regard the book as something the world needs now to deal with the pandemic," Li said.