Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and development trend of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and to evaluate the impact of prevention and control measures on the epidemic in China and other countries, so as to provide a basis for further prediction of the epidemic development and formulation of targeted prevention and control measures. Methods The statistics of domestic epidemic situation released by the provincial and municipal health committees and National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China from Jan. 10 to Mar. 30, 2020 were collected, as well as the daily data and papers of COVID-19 published by the epidemic countries and the World Health Organization until Apr. 16, 2020. The epidemiological characteristics (including the number of confirmed cases, fatality rate, critical rate and cure rate, etc.) were used to analyze the epidemic development and the effects of prevention and control measures in different regions of China, and they were compared with the epidemic prevention and control effects of the United States and Italy. Results The epidemic showed the characteristics of outbreak, and the cases increased rapidly. COVID-19 infection was found in 31 provincial-level regions in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan Province. The mortality rates were 4.01% (3 314/82 545), 5.10% (2 548/50 006) and 3.59% (639/17 795) in China, Wuhan and Hubei (excluding Wuhan), respectively. The national average cure rate was 92.34% (76 225/82 545). The new cases in Wuhan were the most in the country after restricting traffic and personnel flow, and the average newly diagnosed cases outside Hubei dropped from 521.00 to 474.40 cases. The average daily deaths decreased from 72.33 to 38.35 in Wuhan and 97.87 to 47.61 in the whole country after treating patients in isolation. Compared with the United States and Italy, China took the most effective measures and had the lowest rate of case increase. Conclusion COVID-19 has been found in all provincial-level regions of China. The prevention and control measures in China have effectively contained the progress of the epidemic. Compared with the United States and Italy, prevention and control measures in China are more prompt and effective.