China timely shares COVID-19 information, advances int'l cooperation

Lithuanian health officials and experts attend a video conference with Chinese health officials, experts and their counterparts from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in Vilnius, Lithuania, March 13, 2020. [Photo/Chinese Embassy in Lithuania/Xinhua]

Research cooperation

In the global fight against the coronavirus, China has attached great importance to the role of scientific research, with scientists releasing their latest research results of the new virus, according to the timeline.

China has timely shared with the world the whole gene sequence, primers and probes of the coronavirus, and shared diagnosis and treatment guidelines and other technical documents with more than 100 countries and over 10 international and regional organizations around the world, according to the timeline.

By carrying out timely technical exchanges with the international community, such as the WHO, the United States, and countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Chinese scientists and health experts worked with global peers to share their knowledge about the virus to help countries develop testing kits and adopt responsive measures.

After the China CDC succeeded in isolating the first novel coronavirus strain on Jan. 7, an expert team from the NHC made public of the pathogen two days later, saying a new type of coronavirus was initially identified as the cause of the viral pneumonia in Wuhan.

On Jan. 12, the China CDC, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as designated agencies of the NHC, submitted to the WHO the genome sequence of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was published by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) and shared globally.

A number of papers on the latest research results by the Chinese scientists and health specialists were published by the journals Nature, Science and other medical publications over the past three months, according to the timeline.

As Chinese researchers and doctors deepened their understanding of the coronavirus, the NHC updated different versions of guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of the COVID-19 and shared them globally.

Medical materials from China arrive at the Liege airport in Belgium, on March 18, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Assistance to other countries

While 1.4 billion Chinese are pulling together to contain the COVID-19 domestically, China has also helped other countries fight the pandemic to the best of its capacity after it peaked at home, providing medical supplies or sending medical experts to other countries, according to the timeline.

China announced a donation of 20 million U.S. dollars to the WHO on March 7 to support its international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a press conference in Beijing on March 8 that while overcoming its own difficulties, China is willing to provide masks and other medical protection materials to relevant countries to support them in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic.

According to the timeline, the first batch of Chinese medical experts carrying China-assisted medical supplies arrived in Italy on March 12. More medical experts and supplies from China arrived in Italy later to help with its epidemic prevention and control efforts.

Medical experts and supplies from China were also sent to countries such as Iran, Iraq, Serbia, Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos and Venezuela.

By March 31, the Chinese government had provided material assistance including medical masks, N95 masks, protective suits, nucleic acid testing reagent and ventilators to 120 countries and four international organizations, according to the document.

In the meantime, local governments in China had donated medical supplies to more than 50 countries. And Chinese enterprises donated medical supplies to more than 100 countries and international organizations.

Bruce Aylward, an epidemiologist who led an advance team from the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a press conference of the China-WHO joint expert team in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Global recognition

According to the timeline, the WHO released on Jan. 9 on its website a statement regarding a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, saying that preliminary identification of the novel coronavirus in a short period of time is a notable achievement.

On Jan. 13, the WHO issued another statement on the discovery of the novel coronavirus cases in Thailand, pointing out that China's sharing of the genome sequence enabled more countries to quickly diagnose patients.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Jan. 24 thanked on social media the Chinese government for its cooperation and transparency, saying that the Chinese government has been successful in isolating and sequencing the virus very quickly and has shared that genetic sequence with the WHO and the international community.

Apart from the WHO, a number of foreign leaders appreciated China's efforts in dealing with the COVID-19 in openness and transparency when they visited China or talked with Chinese leaders over phone.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany appreciates China's efforts to respond in a timely manner, stay open and transparent, and actively carry out international cooperation during a phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Jan. 22.

On Feb. 24, the China-WHO joint expert team held a press conference in Beijing, at which the team members said China's unprecedented public health responses to the COVID-19 outbreak have yielded notable results in slowing the spread of the epidemic and blocking human-to-human transmission of the virus, preventing or at least delaying hundreds of thousands of cases.