Abstract: With multiple functional and special characteristics, telemedicine can play an important role in response to major public health emergencies. The study summarizes common applications of telemedicine in managements of public health emergencies and discusses the significance of the applications and potential innovative application of telemedicine in coping with major public health emergencies such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic for providing a reference to the establishment of a long-term mechanism for the application of telemedicine in health care and disease control and prevention in China.