That it took nearly four months for the number of people infected by SARS to reach 1,000 worldwide, while the novel coronavirus has done that within only 24 days after Wuhan first disclosed its existence on Dec 31 — and only two days to reach 2,000 by Sunday — speaks volumes about the challenge the country now faces.

The pandemic is now a test of China's governing capacity as it seeks to mobilize all resources to curb the spread of the virus and bring the pandemic under control.

There are tremendous efforts required to try and bring the pandemic under control at the earliest date, and the tardiness of some officials to act in the wake of the breakout of the pandemic has made the task more difficult.

That's why President Xi Jinping issued "an order of war" on Saturday, instructing all leading local officials to put people's health first and lead the fight against the virus on the frontline.

Due to the Spring Festival rush, millions of people had already left Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, before its mayor declared the city was put into lockdown.

Since then the work to track down all of them has become a central task of the authorities in the rest of the country.

Because of the latent characteristics of the novel coronavirus, those from Wuhan, as well as the dozens of satellite towns around the city, have invariably become new infection sources one after another, as almost all people found infected with the virus outside of Wuhan either traveled to city or contacted it from someone from there.

Although the advancement of science and technology, along with international collaboration, has dramatically reduced the death tolls of pandemics in recent history, the novel coronavirus pandemic has once again shown that the specter of deadly pandemic like Spanish influenza still looms over us and is always ready to prove its existence.

Transparency is necessary to eliminate the fears that feed and grow in the dark. The authorities have no reason not to shine a light on the situation. They must ensure people have the true picture of what is happening, as transparency is crucial to unite the society and to ensure people know what they can do to play their part in the fight.