BEIJING, June 7 (TMTPOST) -- China on Sunday issued a white paper on its battle against COVID-19, which was first reported in Wuhan in December 2019 and evolved into a pandemic in mid-March.

The white paper, titled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action," was issued by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.

The white paper is seen as a rebuttal to the U.S. claim that China did not respond well to the epidemic. The document contains four chapters. The subtitles of the chapters are “China’s Fight against the Epidemic: A Test of Fire”, “Well-Coordinated Prevention, Control and Treatment”, “Assembling a Powerful Force to Beat the Virus” and “Building a Global Community of Health for All”.

The first chapter elaborates on China’s response to the infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus, dividing it into five stages. The first stage, which spanned from December 27, 2019 to January 19, 2020, was characterized as a “swift response” to the public health emergency. January 20 was the date when the Chinese government informed the public of the contagion of the virus. Prior to that date, a team of medical experts that had visited Wuhan hospitals said that there was not enough evidence showing that the pneumonia was infectious.

The second stage lasted from January 20 to February 20, characterized as “initial progress in containing the virus”. Stage three ended on March 17, when daily new infections on the Chinese mainland dropped to single digits. Stage four ended on April 28, when Wuhan and Hubei province claimed an initial victory. Stage five is the ongoing COVID-19 prevention and control, which started on April 19.

Chapter two highlights China’s approach to the epidemic: good coordination, mobilization of people from all walks of life, all-out efforts to treat patients and full use of science and technology.

Chapter three capsulizes how the nation-wide solidarity was achieved.

Chapter four focuses on China’s joining hands with the international community to fight the virus.

On May 29, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing U.S. funding and membership in World Health Organization over its response to China's handling of the coronavirus epidemic. The United States was the biggest fund contributor to WHO by country.