Customers wearing masks visit a shopping mall in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, March 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

Herd immunity cannot be relied on to solve the problems of the highly infectious novel coronavirus disease, said Zhong Nanshan, renowned Chinese respiratory specialist, at a press conference Wednesday.

"There is no evidence that people can develop lifelong immunity against the coronavirus disease after one infection, " said Zhong, who played an important role in China's fight against COVID-19 and SARS back in 2003.

Controlling infectious disease from the source and the upstream is the most ancient and most effective method, Zhong said.