Egypt, China discuss coop. in combating coronavirus

CAIRO - 8 February 2020: Egyptian Minister Sameh Shoukry held a phone call on Friday with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held to underline bilateral cooperation in fighting novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Egypt firmly supports China's efforts to fight the epidemic and stands ready to offer help within its capability, Shoukry said, adding that Egypt believes that China will eventually achieve an outright victory over the epidemic.

African countries will always firmly stand by China in the face of hardship, Shoukry confirmed.

For his part, Wang said that China and African countries are good friends and good brothers who trust and support each other, saying that China took the lead to help African countries combat the Ebola epidemic in the past, which wrote a new chapter for China-Africa friendship and cooperation.

He also said that African countries fully understand and support China in fighting against the NCP epidemic and their friendship will certainly be advanced.

"we firmly believe that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China as well as with the rich experience obtained in tackling the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, strong national mobilization capability and global support, we will eventually achieve a victory over the epidemic and that China's development will not be affected." Wang said.

Through its efforts in fighting the epidemic, China has been not only safeguarding the saftey and health of the Chinese people, but also making contribution to the cause of international public health, Wang said.

The World Health Organization has praised China's prevention and control of the disease as setting a new standard for global outbreak response, and it disfavors imposing international travel and trade restrictions, Wang said.

China is willing to keep communication and coordination with Egypt and jointly maintain normal exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, Wang added.

In January, Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed announced sending 10 tons of medical supplies to China, to help prevent the spread of the new deadly coronavirus, affirming that the Egyptian state would provide support to the Chinese people in Egypt.

Also, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied reports claiming that coronavirus cases were detected among the Egyptian community in China, the Cabinet media office reported.

So far, the epidemic, which broke out in central China's Wuhan City has infected more than 34,400 people and killed 724 in China.

Additional Report with MENA