WeDoctor Launches Xi'an Anti-Epidemic Zone with Nationwide Expert Support

A sudden outbreak struck the Shaanxi region. As Xi’an’s epidemic prevention and control efforts entered a critical phase, the city officially implemented closed-off management in the early hours of December 23, 2021, pressing the “pause button” on the ancient capital. To safeguard local residents’ access to medical and health services and alleviate pressure on offline healthcare institutions, WeDoctor Internet General Hospital immediately activated its emergency response plan for epidemic control. On December 22, it rapidly launched the “Xi’an Anti-Epidemic Zone,” mobilizing experts nationwide to provide free, round-the-clock online consultations and public health education related to epidemic prevention for Xi’an residents.

Residents of Xi’an need only follow the “WeDoctor” official WeChat account, select the submenu “Medical Services” – “Top-Tier Expert Online Epidemic Response,” to initiate free online consultations with over 130,000 physicians from more than 7,800 Grade A tertiary hospitals across China. The dedicated section also offers services such as medication guidance, psychological support, emergency health education, and expert live streams, addressing the diverse healthcare needs of people in epidemic-affected areas.

Professional medical science popularization and education are crucial safeguards for effective disease prevention and epidemic control. To this end, WeDoctor Internet General Hospital has specially launched expert-led live-streamed science popularization sessions in its Xi’an Epidemic Response Zone. It has invited physicians from top-tier (Grade A tertiary) hospitals in Xi’an and across China to address key health topics, including epidemic prevention and control, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of common and chronic diseases, thereby providing the people of Xi’an with professional health education. To date, more than ten such live-streamed sessions have been conducted, covering multiple specialties including pulmonology, infectious diseases, clinical nutrition, cardiology, and respiratory and critical care medicine.

 Li Weimin, Director of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Responds to Online Patient Consultations

“Internet hospitals have established a user-friendly and highly efficient service platform for physicians, significantly expanding their capacity and scope of care.” As a veteran of online epidemic response, Li Weimin, Director of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, participated in WeDoctor’s “Real-Time Assistance Platform for COVID-19” in early 2020, supporting nationwide anti-epidemic efforts. When the latest round of Xi’an’s battle against the epidemic commenced, she promptly resumed her online services. Despite her commitments to offline epidemic prevention and control, she continued to serve both new and existing patients through the “Xi’an Epidemic Response Zone.” “We engage in ‘cloud-based epidemic response’ through online consultations and live interactive sessions, providing sustained and robust support for the nutritional health of home-bound patients and the general public,” stated Li Weimin.

It is reported that at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, WeDoctor rapidly launched the “Real-Time Assistance Platform for COVID-19,” mobilizing experts nationwide to provide free online consultations, psychological support, online follow-up visits, insurance-covered medications, and public health education on epidemic prevention to users across China, particularly in core epidemic areas such as Wuhan and Huanggang. Additionally, WeDoctor assisted local governments in 15 provinces and 152 cities and counties—including Xi’an, Tianjin, Ningxia, and Heilongjiang—in establishing free epidemic relief platforms, with daily peak traffic exceeding 11 million visits. During the peak of the pandemic, to address the difficulties faced by a large number of patients with common and chronic diseases in Wuhan in accessing medical care and follow-up visits, WeDoctor pioneered online medical insurance payments in Wuhan. It fulfilled 97% of the online follow-up and medication needs for patients with severe chronic conditions across the city, effectively reducing the risk of cross-infection associated with offline medical visits for patients with common diseases and ensuring timely and standardized medication adherence for chronic disease patients during the epidemic.

In addition, WeDoctor launched the “Global Anti-Epidemic Platform” in March 2020 to provide epidemic prevention and control services to overseas Chinese and foreign friends. The platform covered more than 3.6 million people across over 220 countries worldwide, earning official endorsements from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese embassies and consulates in more than 170 countries. By the end of 2020, the cumulative visits to WeDoctor’s domestic and international anti-epidemic platforms exceeded 200 million, with over 2.3 million service instances delivered. This initiative effectively alleviated the pressure on offline epidemic prevention and control efforts, opening up an “aerial battlefield” for the global fight against the pandemic.

A representative from WeDoctor stated that in February 2020, WeDoctor partnered with the Xi’an Municipal Health Commission to launch the “Xi’an COVID-19 Real-Time Consultation Platform,” which effectively alleviated local outpatient pressure. During this critical period of Xi’an’s fight against the epidemic, WeDoctor will continue to collaborate with doctors across China, fully leveraging digital tools to build a robust defense line against the outbreak and safeguard the health of Xi’an residents.