The Chinese Government places high importance on protecting the security, health and well-being of foreign nationals in China. Multilingual information services are being provided to them through various channels to address their needs of daily life, prevention and medical treatment, Ma Zhaoxu, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, said at a press conference on March 5.

China is also working actively with other countries in the spirit of openness, transparency and responsibility, Ma told the media. "We will work with countries concerned and promote cooperation in areas such as diagnostics, therapeutics, drugs and vaccine development," he added.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has received condolences and support from leaders of more than 170 countries and heads of more than 40 international and regional organizations. The China-WHO joint expert team finished field investigations in Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hubei recently. They fully recognized China's comprehensive and effective measures taken, and said that China's efforts have bought valuable time for the world and provided lessons to learn.

"We will never forget the assistance given by members of the international community. We'll provide support and assistance to countries in need to the best of our ability," Ma said, stressing that China's prevention and control efforts have produced visible progress, but this is no time to relax as the world is still in a critical stage.

Currently, cases have been reported in many countries, and some of those countries are facing an increasingly severe situation. "It is of greater importance and urgency for countries to enhance communication and cooperation in public health security," Ma said, adding that China has been in communication with other sides.

For example, China has provided testing reagents to Pakistan, Japan, the AU, among others and shared diagnostic and therapeutic solutions with many countries. The Red Cross Society of China and many Chinese enterprises delivered reagents to Iran and African countries. The country also sent a volunteer expert team to Iran. While fighting the epidemic at home, China will continue working with other sides and offer them assistance to the best of our capabilities, Ma said.

The prevention and control measures taken by China have at least prevented 100,000 cases according to the Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Zeng Yixin, Deputy Director of the National Health Commission, at the press conference. China is willing to share the information with other countries to improve the capability of the professional practitioners, he added.

Copyedited by Madhusudan Chaubey

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