The Right Way to Triumph over COVID-19

In early 2020, the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus hit China and spread around the world. With its rapid spread, wide range of infection, and great difficulty in prevention and control, it has become the biggest public health challenge facing the world. Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Maddam Wang Ke said in her message this week that at present, the local transmission of the virus in China, mainly in Wuhan city, has been basically stopped, a triumph over COVID-19.

In this piece of press message to the world, Maddam Wang Ke said that outside China, the number of infections is increasing at an exponential rate with Europe being the new epicenter of the epidemic.

The situation in Africa has also become increasingly severe, with the numbers of confirmed cases and affected countries mounting.

In this arduous battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a great commitment of the Chinese Government and its leaders along with the dedication and sacrifice of the Chinese people.

“The selfless and all-round assistance from China to support other countries’ efforts to combat the pandemic have demonstrated that China is putting its concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind into practice and actively offering Chinese wisdom and solution to the greatest global public health challenge since World War II,” she said.

China’s battle against COVID-19 is an outstanding contribution in the triumph over COVID-19 and to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. In the fight against COVID-19, China has taken the most comprehensive, rigorous, and thorough measures under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping.

It has imposed a lockdown on Wuhan city, the epicenter of the epidemic, which has a population of more than 11 million. The 1.4 billion Chinese people responded to the call of quarantining themselves at home.

Within 2 weeks, 2 hospitals with 2,600 beds were built. Nineteen province-level administrative regions outside Hubei province, the hardest hit region, paired with different cities in Hubei in order to provide targeted assistance.

More than 42,000 healthcare workers of 346 medical teams from all over the country and the military gathered in Hubei province, especially in Wuhan, to treat tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients there.

Ambassador Wang said that through concerted efforts, China has made remarkable progress in epidemic prevention and control, and the trend of accelerated resumption of production and work has sustained across the country.

“China’s outstanding achievements in fighting COVID-19 have slowed down the spread of the disease worldwide, provided valuable opportunities and experience for the global fight against the epidemic, and won widespread praise from the international community,” she said.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus said that China has bought the world time, even though at a great cost to itself.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised China’s contribution to the global fight against COVID-19, noting that the Chinese are making efforts for humanity.

China’s battle against COVID-19 is vivid practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind. China is not alone in its unprecedented fight against COVID-19. Its epidemic control efforts have won wide support from various countries around the world.

“When China faces the threat of COVID-19, our African brothers have not forgotten that when the Ebola virus ravaged Africa in 2014, China is the first country that sent a chartered plane to deliver emergency relief supplies and a medical team to treat African patients regardless of the high risk of infection,” she said.

African countries reciprocated by extending their helping hands to China this time. No matter in the Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council, there is consensus that what China has done to fight COVID-19 is commendable in the triumph over COVID-19 and deserves respect and support.

“China’s battle against COVID-19 demonstrates its responsibility as a major country in building a community with a shared future for mankind. Even if it was just a little help from others, you should return the favor with all you can when others are in need,” she added.

China has been actively conducting international cooperation against the epidemic and is working closely with other countries to safeguard regional and global public health in an open, transparent, and responsible manner.

China shared the genetic sequence of the virus with the WHO and other countries in a timely fashion.

It has been releasing information about the epidemic situation within China on daily basis and sharing its experiences in fighting COVID-19 with the whole world including publishing of the latest versions of Prevention and Control Protocol and Clinical Protocols for Diagnosis and Treatment.

China has provided aid to the best of its capabilities to the WHO and other countries and regions where the epidemic has rapidly spread such as Japan and South Korea.

Medical teams have been sent to a number of countries including Iraq, Iran, Italy, Serbia, and Cambodia, to support their fight against the epidemic. China attaches great importance to protecting the health of foreign nationals in the country and has been treating foreign students in China as if they were the sons and daughters of the Chinese people.

Tanzania as an example, has up to now, nobody of the over 5,000 Tanzanian citizens in China that has contracted COVID-19 thanks to the effective measures taken by local governments and universities.

The people in China feel keenly for Africa as it faces the challenge of COVID-19. The Chinese Government has donated 2 batches of testing kits totaling 12,000 to Africa through the Africa Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) and will soon provide more emergency relief supplies to Tanzania and other African countries affected by COVID-19.

Many Chinese enterprises and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation, have donated the badly-needed medical supplies to Africa.

Chinese experts recently held the first video conference with their African counterparts to share their experiences in controlling the epidemic and treating patients in a triumph over COVID-19.

“We are proud that China is once again the first country that has provided massive aid to Africa when the continent is in need,” she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic reveals that in the age of globalization, the world is a community sharing wealth and woe, and no country can address alone the many challenges facing mankind or afford to retreat into self-isolation.

The virus does not respect borders, nor does it respect ethnicity, religion, or social status. It has become a global consensus that to help others is to help yourself.

“However, we should also note that [an] individual country and politicians have not only understated the epidemic situation of their own, done a bad job in epidemic control, but fabricated rumors, stigmatized China, and disregarded international cooperation, constituting stumbling blocks to the global fight against COVID-19,” Wang said.

Facts proved that international solidarity and cooperation is the best weapon to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. During the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit on COVID-19 held on March 26, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an important speech.

President Xi had noted the need to be resolute in fighting an all-out global war against the COVID-19 outbreak and proposed countries in the world work together to build the strongest global network of control and treatment that the world has ever seen.

The G20 leaders reached broad consensus on such aspects as presenting a united front against COVID-19 and safeguarding the global economy.

“I believe that as long as we uphold the concept of building a community of a shared future for mankind, help each other, and jointly overcome the difficulties, we will certainly triumph over [the] COVID-19 pandemic ultimately and create a better future for mankind,”  the Chinese ambassador to Tanzania said in her message read this week.