On 3 February 2020, Li Xuhang, China's Consul General in Dubai, published a signed article titled "Fighting Against The Epidemic, China Shares A Common Destiny With The World" in the newspaper "Al Bayan". The following is the full text of the article:
Since late February, the outcome of China’s novel coronavirus prevention and blocking action have continued to show up, and encouraging good news come everyday. But at the same time, new epidemic outbreaks have occurred in many other countries around the world. How could one figure out the relationship between China's fight against the epidemic and the development of the world epidemic? What role does China play in the global fight against the epidemic?
1. China is the "Whistleblower" to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic in the world.
The novel coronavirus is a completely new virus. At present, mankind only have limited knowledge about the new virus, and they can only gradually deepen their understanding in the fight against the virus. Currently, the epidemic outbreaks have occurred in many countries around the world. With more extensive investigations and in-depth studies, experts have found that the infection pathways of dozens of confirmed cases in cities and countries are not related to China. There has been neither Chinese travel history nor direct or indirect contact history with Chinese people, which makes the popular issue of the origin of the virus more complicated. Studies by Italian experts have found that the virus strains of confirmed cases in Italy are not the same as that spread in China. What’s more,some experts have found that the novel coronavirus found in China belongs to the second generation virus, while the first and third generation of the virus were surprisingly found in other countries. According to the analysis, the virus may have spread from person to person as early as September and October last year. It's a pity that local patients and doctors didn't realize it was brand new. Some people even misunderstood that the virus originated from Wuhan, China. Now scientists have discovered that Wuhan may be the place where the epidemic was first discovered, but not necessarily the origin place of the virus. On the contrary, it is precisely due to China ’s strict infectious disease surveillance system, the high sense of responsibility of Chinese medical staff, and the Chinese government ’s open and transparent response measures that has enabled Wuhan, China to be the first to detect and report the epidemic, and the first to trigger the alert of the global novel coronavirus epidemic, which has made China a "whistleblower" to fight the epidemic in the world. The practice of linking the virus to China and stigmatizing the Chinese people to vent their fear of the virus and dissatisfaction with China is extremely unreasonable and does not hold true. Of course, no matter where the virus originates, it is the common enemy of mankind. We should be united in fighting the epidemic rather than groundlessly accuse each other and feel panic.
2．China is a "stopper" for the spread of the novel coronavirus.
As soon as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the 1.4 billion Chinese people, under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government, made concerted effort to fight against the COVID-19. We quickly established a nationwide system of joint prevention and control, decisively adopted the most comprehensive, strict, and thorough measures, and built the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Infectious Disease Hospitals with a capacity of 2600 beds within two weeks. In particular, the special measure to "lockdown the city" of Wuhan has played a key role in preventing and controlling the epidemic. For more than a month, China has made concerted efforts to fight the epidemic, and significant progress has been made in the work of prevention and control. The number of newly confirmed cases nationwide has fallen sharply for two consecutive weeks. On February 29, among 1 billion people in 30 provinces and autonomous regions except Hubei, only 3 new cases were confirmed. It was China that took the lead in stopping actions that reduced the incidence of infection by 80%, and reduced the output of cases, effectively blocked the transmission chain, delayed the spread of the epidemic to other countries, and saved more than a month for countries around the world to respond to the epidemic. Behind these progresses are the huge sacrifices made by the 9 million people in Wuhan and the 1.4 billion Chinese people. Enterprises have stopped production, schools have been suspended, people have canceled travel plans due to traffic control, and families separated from each other and can't reunite even during the Spring Festival. What makes us even more heart-broken is that some medical staffs on duty even sacrificed their lives. Please allow me to share a story with you. This female interpreter on site couldn't help choking with tears when Bruce Aylward, the foreign group leader of the China-WHO COVID-19 joint expert investigation group and senior adviser to the director general of WHO, said at the press conference that the world owes thanks to Wuhan.
3. China is a “pioneer” in fighting against the novel coronavirus.
The first discovery of the novel coronavirus epidemic in China made China the first country to prevent and study the new virus. China's effective prevention and control measures have continued to improve China's anti-epidemic situation, and the changes in various data indicators are encouraging. In Hubei Province where the epidemic is the most serious, after March 1, the number of new cases daily fell sharply to over 100 people. Moreover, the risk of virus export from Wuhan to other regions of China is almost zero. Not long ago, a confirmed case of accidentally returning to Beijing from Wuhan was found on the same day as she arrived, and as a result, more than 10 senior officials from multiple departments in the two places were punished. More and more designated hospitals in Wuhan are experiencing the phenomenon of "beds waiting for people", and even some module hospitals are closed because there are no patients. In the past week, the number of new cases in China, except Hubei, has been stable at single digits for several consecutive days. Shanghai, Chongqing, and other mega cities with populations of tens of millions have maintained records of zero new cases for many days. However, surprisingly the novel coronavirus epidemic has shown an outbreak outside China. Since February 25, new cases of COVID-19 outside China have continuously surpassed China. Europe, which is almost the same size as China and has about half the population, has more cases per day than China. Even some countries where area and population are only equivalent to those of small and medium-sized provinces in China have more newly confirmed cases per day than all of China. On Marh 1,2, confirmed cases in other countries are nearly 9 times bigger than that of China. Many Chinese citizens living overseas started to concern about their health security and considered returning home as their priority option. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently stated that the Chinese government is ready to assist these citizens in returning home.
4. China is a “supporter” of fighting against the novel coronavirus in the world.
The fact that the epidemic has broken out in many countries around the world once again shows that in today's flat world, the virus has no borders, and all countries in the world are a community of shared destiny. In history, every serious infectious disease epidemic has developed from local outbreak to mass spread across countries. SARS, MERS, Ebola, etc. are all the same. In 2009, the US H1N1 influenza A spread to 214 countries and regions worldwide. The international community is increasingly becoming an intimate community of shared future for mankind. In the face of the novel coronavirus, the enemy of all mankind, no country can survive alone, all countries must work together to overcome difficulties. For countries suffering from severe epidemics, China has not adopted any discriminatory and negative measures, but has done a good job in its active and effective prevention and control. Not long ago, Shandong province, China, specially booked a whole hotel to provide free quarantine, catering and accommodation for foreign tourists from a country with severe epidemic, which received their high praise.
Chinese scientists are devoting every effort to develop reagents with shorter testing time, more accurate results and easier operation. Currently, a total of 9 nucleic acid detection reagents and 2 antibody detection reagents have been approved for marketing. This will enable us to better achieve "early detection, early quarantine, and early treatment" and curb the spread of the epidemic. With the hard work of Chinese scientists day and night, the inactivated vaccine for COVID-19 is expected to start clinical trials as soon as April comes.
China's epidemic prevention and control has received strong support and assistance from various countries in the world,including the UAE.We are very grateful for this and will never forget it.In the face of the epidemic, China has always adhered to the spirit of international cooperation. Although the epidemic in China has not completely ended, China is willing to further strengthen cooperation with the international community as far as its capabilities are concerned, especially by providing all necessary support to countries in urgent need and sharing our experience. We have provided Iran, Japan, ROK and other countries with prevention and control supplies and testing reagents, and even sent medical teams.
We always firmly believe that it is a community of shared future for mankind.Although virus is merciless, human beings have love! In the face of the great epidemic and disaster, China is willing to strengthen solidarity and international cooperation with other countries in the world to overcome the difficulties and win the final victory in the fight against the epidemic!