The year 2020 has seen the COVID-19 pandemic ravage the world and cause catastrophic losses to various countries. This public health nightmare not only posed a severe challenge to China's national emergency response system, but also exposed the defects in our emergency response. In fact, in response to the public health emergency, many countries of the world have developed a relatively complete early warning and response system through continuous practice, and have established corresponding crisis management mechanisms. The implementation of these systems and mechanisms has played an irreplaceable role in eliminating social panic, restoring normal order, and reducing life and property losses.

The UK is one of the earliest countries in the world to have established a relatively complete public health system, and has invested heavily in public health. The British public health system has its characteristics and advantages, and enjoys remarkable achievements in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The spread of the pandemic was a new challenge to the UK's public health emergency response this year, and its adaptations to the pandemic in its domestic public health system are worthy of attention. The salon invited Guo Jing, an associate research fellow in the Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, PKU, to introduce the British public health system and its health emergency system, and to discuss issues such as China-UK and China-EU public health cooperation after Brexit.