China is willing to share experience in fighting against COVID-19 with the world

On global level, the epidemic caused by COVID-19 has been changing rapidly. In the past month, the disease has spread over 110 countries with more than 110 thousand confirmed cases. The threat of a pandemic has become real. At the moment, heavily-affected countries like Italy have taken some unusual measures to curb the disease. In Finland, the figure of confirmed cases keeps rising. Considering its population, the whole Nordic region could be regarded as a highly infected area in Europe. I sincerely hope the spreading could be quickly controlled, and the situation could be better soon.

If we look back at China some weeks ago, the situation was indeed worrying. But China took about one month to turn the tide, which proves the epidemic can be prevented and controlled. Since its outbreak, China has been standing in the front line and taken a series of counter measures that are all-round, thorough and stringent. The whole society rose to the occasion to take part in the fight. With sustained efforts, more and more cities and provinces reported zero new confirmed or suspected cases. All 14 temporary hospitals in Wuhan are closed as the number of patients drops. More than 70% of the 80,000 confirmed cases have recovered and been discharged. Enterprises in different regions are back to work in a well-organized way. Our actions not only protect lives and health of our own people, but also make contributions and offer reference to countries all over the world, in order to cope with the epidemic timely and effectively. Dr. Bruce Aylward, head of WHO-China joint mission on COVID-19 said that China’s counterattack can be replicated and other countries don’t have to start from ground zero.

Of course, there is no universal or particular solution to this epidemic so far. Countries with different cultual cognition may differ in taking counter measures. For instance, whether or not wearing a mask in public really can be a question in Europe. At this very moment, what we need is to be determined and find the right measures. I totally agree with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, that the rule of the game is never give up. China will keep doing its job, and is willing to cooperate with international communities in an open and transparent attitude, to share our experience on prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment, and to cooperate on research and development of medicine and vaccine. We have already decided to donate 20 million US dollars to WHO for international cooperation, and we stand ready to offer help to countries in need within our capacity.

The epidemic is a war without boundaries. It shows once again countries are deeply connected to and dependent on each other in a globalized world. We are a community with a shared future. In this regard, we must work together to fight against this virus. And that is my colleagues and I are working on in Finland, too. Hopefully we can win this battle soon.

Notes: The writer is the Ambassador of People Republic of China to Finland.