China continues to show solidarity as COVID-19 cases exceed 200,000 in Middle East

China has been standing in solidarity with countries in the Middle East where the confirmed COVID-19 cases have surpassed 200,000.

As of Friday, Iran and Turkey, the hardest-hit countries in the region, have seen their tallies of confirmed cases climb to 79,494 and 78,546 respectively, while Israel's confirmed cases have reached 12,982.

In the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, China has been lending various support to the Middle Eastern countries.

Workers pose for photos after finishing transfering medical supplies from China in Cairo International Airport, Egypt, April 16, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Timely assistance

After sending expert teams to Iran and Iraq a month ago, China on Wednesday sent an eight-member expert team to Saudi Arabia, which specializes in areas such as virus testing, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, intensive care and traditional Chinese medicine.

They will share their experience with and offer training for Saudi medical staff on the prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.

Chinese medical experts attend a meeting at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on April 15, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Meanwhile, several batches of Chinese medical aid have recently arrived in the Middle East.

On Thursday, Chinese donations of medical materials, including masks and test kits, arrived in Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia.

Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang said China will provide information and technical assistance for Egypt to contain the epidemic, adding that more batches of aid will be sent to Egypt in the coming days.

While delivering China's aid to Lebanon, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian expressed China's gratitude for the solidarity shown by Lebanese leaders when China was in its tough battle against COVID-19.

"The Chinese and Lebanese sides have been cooperating closely by exchanging information and expertise about prevention and treatment," he said.

On Wednesday, Algeria and Syria also received medical donations from China.

Chinese Ambassador to Algeria Li Lianhe said the donation shows China's gratitude toward Algeria, which was among the first countries to give medical help to China at the very beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.

Chinese Ambassador to Syria Feng Biao told reporters that more Chinese aid will be sent to Syria in batches.

Experience sharing

Besides offering medical supplies and on-site support, China has also been sharing its anti-epidemic experience, which has been widely adopted by the Middle East countries and is yielding tangible results.

Learning from China's experience and adopting similar measures in fighting the novel coronavirus have played a great role in limiting losses caused by COVID-19 in Egypt, said Soliman Wahdan, Egypt's deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

People work in a factory to produce medical face masks in Cairo, Egypt, on April 14, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Wahdan said Egypt has learned from China by taking precautionary measures such as suspending schools and universities, halting flights, closing entertainment places, shutting down all museums and archeological sites, as well as implementing a nationwide partial curfew.

"All the precautionary measures adopted by Egypt have helped contain the crisis so far," Wahdan said, noting that most of the measures have been proven effective in China.

"China has been always generous with providing expertise and information, which undoubtedly bought time for other countries to control the spread of the virus," he said.

Ibrahim Melhem, spokesman of the Palestinian government, said since COVID-19 broke out in Palestine a month ago, Palestine has been dealing with the epidemic by following the prevention and control measures practiced by China, such as quarantine, social distancing and staying-at-home.

Ghassan Nimer, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Interior Ministry, said a crisis management committee was created in February after initial signals of the virus became apparent.

"We looked in depth at all attempts to fight the virus, but we found two basic experiences to rely on; the first being the Chinese experience that was based on isolation and physical distancing, which proved successful in cornering the disease; and the other was the widest possible testing of monitored and random cases, but that was not possible due to the shortage of testing kits," Nimer said.

"Therefore, we implemented what was done in Wuhan in Bethlehem," he added, noting that a recovering trend has been observed in Bethlehem, the epicenter of the epidemic in Palestine.

Last week, Chinese and Arab medical experts held a video conference hosted by the Arab League (AL).

AL Assistant Secretary General for Social Affairs Haifa Abu-Ghazaleh said that the Arab and Chinese experts held extensive discussions the ways to prevent, diagnose and treat novel coronavirus infections.

The conference benefited the participants as it will help their countries to formalize their own roadmap of fighting the coronavirus through international cooperation, Abu-Ghazaleh noted.