The Chinese government has said that it has contained more than 99 percent of the confirmed cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) within its borders through enormous self- imposed sacrifices and lockdown of cities, which has so far prevented a major global outbreak.
The Embassy of China in Abuja in its Newsletter on Monday said since the outbreak of the virus, China has been taking decisive and unprecedented measures, including locking down cities, to protect public health both domestically and globally.
According to the Newsletter, the National Health Commission of China as of Sunday, February 16, had received 70,548 reports of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, including 1,770 deaths and 10,844 patients cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 7,264 suspected cases.
In recognition of these immense efforts by China to tame the virus, Fotis Provatas, President of the Chamber of Greek-Chinese Economic Cooperation, organized an event, where hundreds of Greeks and Chinese people living in Greece, held a gathering and walked around the neighbourhood, holding Chinese red lanterns to express solidarity with China in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia outbreak.
“The world should show gratitude to the Chinese people for their courage and sacrifices in battling the disease decisively and in preventing its spread to other countries,” Provatas said.
As of Saturday, when nearly 70 thousand people in dozens of countries have tested positive for infection, the number of confirmed cases of infection outside China accounts for less than one percent of the total, the embassy said.
“We appreciate and we admire all this gigantic effort, their determination and discipline, because they know that this is the only way to help themselves and the world from the further spread of the epidemic,” Provatas said.
Mario Cavolo, an Italian American writer living in China’s north-eastern province of Liaoning, said “if you think about the responsibility of a dutiful citizen, 1.4 billion people in China have to stay at home, doing what should be done — not spreading the virus. It’s amazing.”
While implementing the strictest measures to prevent and control the disease across the country, China is also cooperating with the international community to prepare other countries for a potential outbreak and prevent the epidemic from growing, the Embassy Newsletter said.
Also speaking, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization earlier this month, said “If it weren’t for China’s efforts, the number of cases outside China would have been very much higher.”
Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China has implemented the most comprehensive and rigorous measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus.
Wuhan city, an important transportation hub in central China was locked down since January 23, with all public transportation suspended. Several other cities in Hubei Province have followed suit.
To improve medical treatment capacity, tens of thousands of workers were mobilized to build two makeshift hospitals in Wuhan with a total of 2,600 beds for patients in serious condition. The construction of each hospital took only 10 days.
Provincial-level regions have paired up with cities across Hubei to provide medical aid. A total of 217 medical teams with 25,633 medical personnel have been sent to Hubei as of Friday, with a massive influx of equipment and supplies.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
