• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

China already winning war against Coronavirus, says Envoy

Coronavirus-China

The ambassador of the peoples republic to China to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian has stated that against reports, China is winning the war against the Coronavirus which has been officially renamed to Covid-19 and it’s effective response has averted further spread of the virus across the world. According to him, China will soon emerge stronger and more prosperous.

The Chinese envoy explained that the number of deaths and confirmed cases has declined consecutively and the vaccine to confront the virus is already underway. Pingjian noted that the epidemic control efforts have seen hard-won results with positive development in the contagion situation.

Pingjian said this at a dialogue held by the centre for China Studies in Nigeria on the theme “Nigeria-China Cooperation in the context of Health Emergency: Imperative of Joint efforts and Collaboration” in Abuja on Thursday.

According to him, since February 1, cured cases began to outnumber deaths and as at February 12, a total of 5,998 persons had been discharged from the hospital after recovery. He added that since February 3, confirmed cases were declining day by day outside Hubei, the province with Wuhan as it’s capital.

“There were 731 confirmed cases in February 4, 707 cases on the 5th, 696 cases on the 6th, 558 cases on the 7th, 509 cases on the 8th, 444 cases on the 9th, 381 cases on the 10th, 377 cases on the 11th and 312 cases on the 12th”, he explained.

He however clarified that the sudden surge of 14840 confirmed cases on Wednesday (yesterday) compared to 1638 new cases on Tuesday in Hubei was as a result of a revision in the diagnosis criteria for the Covid-19 as confirmed patients when releasing figures.

The ambassador further explained that the mortality rate of the virus have declined to 2.28 percent  in Wuhan and at 1.23 percent in other cities which according to him is lower than the mortality rate of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at 10.91 percent and that of Ebola of 2014 which was at 40.4 percent.

Pingjian said the chinese government has taken the most vigorous  measures to win the war and there is no reason for countries to take measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. He said such measures are out of proportion.

“China has the confidence, capacity and determination to not only win a full victory against the epidemic but also meet its economic and social development goals”, the ambassador said.

He restated China’s commitment  to working with Nigeria to implement the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing summit and advance the belt and road cooperation for common development.

The Director of the centre for China studies, Charles Onunaiju in his welcome remarks noted that one the factors that contributed to China’s success stories against Coravid-19 is the fact that China has 95 percent universal health coverage which enables it’s citizens particularly those who have had contact with the disease have access to quality health care.

In the context of Nigeria-China relation, Onunaiju noted that both countries have come a long way and it’s cooperation has been a historic one founded on friendship and solidarity, which will be sustained irrespective of Covid-19.

The Director further informed that Monday, 17th December will mark the 49th anniversary  China-Nigeria diplomatic relations.

Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja