NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 11 – China has now come out to help nations affected by coronavirus, after managing the crisis at home.
On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang announced that the country has offered to help Iran, Iraq and Italy deal with the epidemic that has killed over 4,000 and infected more than 100,000 others in various countries.
A team of five Chinese medical experts has been dispatched to Italy, along with a member of the Red Cross Society of China and a specialist from China CDC.
“Thanks to the Chinese people’s united and arduous efforts, the situation in China is getting better, with prevention and control efforts resulting in important progress at this stage,” Geng said, in a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
He said, China which deployed massive resources to battle the epidemic at home, had stepped up communication and cooperation, and urged other countries to do the same on measures taken to eradicate the epidemic.
“It is all the more important and urgent for all countries to step up communication, cooperation in jointly fighting the epidemic and safeguarding regional and international public health security. While combating COVID-19 at home, China is ready to contribute to the global response,” he said.
By Wednesday afternoon, coronavirus had killed 631 people in Italy, prompting a lockdown of major cities and closure of schools and a ban to all public gatherings.
The Italian government has vowed to spend up to 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) to fight the epidemic that is threatening the country’s economy.
Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri said “half of these resources” would be used immediately and the other half stowed away and tapped should the health crisis spiral out of control.
The epidemic has spread far and wide, with hundreds of cases already confirmed in the US, Belgium, UK among others.
31 deaths were reported in the US by Wednesday, with more than 1000 cases confirmed, while in the UK
In the UK, the sixth person died Wednesday, with a total of 382 cases confirmed, including Health Minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries. Labour MP Rachael Maskell said she has since been told to do the same as she had met Ms Dorries.
China has said it is sharing experience and exchanging information with other countries on how it managed suppress the epidemic from spreading further.
The Foreign Office said Wednesday the Chinese Government has so far published seven guidelines on COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment and six guidelines on prevention and control, all of which have been translated into multiple foreign languages.
“We would like to share these Chinese solutions with the world and hold exchanges over them,” Geng said, “We’ve discussed our work against the epidemic in video conferences with the European Union, ASEAN, African Union, Caribbean Community, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, South Pacific island countries, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Georgia and others. We will continue exchanges and mutual learning with other countries and international organizations to jointly enhance regional and global capacity in safeguarding public health security.”
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