Responsibility, support, confidence and tolerance

World has donned its armor to win the fight against the new public health threat

At the beginning of 2020, an outbreak of a new type of coronavirus emerged in Wuhan and rapidly spread throughout Hubei province. The 1.4 billion Chinese people have started a massive war against the epidemic. At the same time, in the face of this common enemy to humanity, the World Health Organization and many countries, including Spain, have shown their support to China, by providing technical, material and other assistance.

At present, the prevention and control efforts can be summarized in four key words: responsibility, support, confidence and tolerance.

China has taken comprehensive and stringent measures to establish a nationwide joint prevention and control system, and as part of this system resolutely decided to suspend public transportation in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province. All the 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland have initiated the first-level response to a public health emergency. Many have gone well beyond the International Health Regulations and the WHO recommendations.

Bearing in mind the overall situation, the Chinese government is coordinating and allocating the country’s human and material resources, organizing and dispatching medical personnel to assist Wuhan and other cities in Hubei. Within 10 days each, Wuhan had completed the building of two special hospitals, adding more than 2,000 beds for treating patients. The first batch of mobile cabin hospitals in Wuhan with a capacity of 4,400 beds, mainly for mild cases, was officially opened and will help control the epidemic at the source. Medical researchers are working around the clock to develop a vaccine. Enterprises are producing medical supplies at full capacity. People from all walks of life and overseas Chinese are actively contributing to the fight against the virus.

In an open, transparent and highly responsible manner, China has established a daily reporting mechanism for the outbreaks, released timely information on the epidemic both at home and to other countries. It notified the WHO of the outbreak as soon as possible, identified the pathogen in record time and shared its genetic sequences with the WHO and other countries.

At present, the confirmed cases outside China account for less than 1 percent of all cases, which indicates that China has done its utmost to control the outbreak and protect the health of people worldwide. As WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out, China has set a new benchmark for responding to the outbreak.

In a globalized world, human destiny is closely linked. In the face of global public health events, no country can detach itself from the international community. Only through cooperation, can we defend ourselves from the virus.

The fact that many countries, including Spain, have followed WHO recommendations and not taken hasty measures to restrict travel and trade is also of great support to China’s response to the outbreak, for which we are grateful and deeply appreciate.

But at the same time, some countries are taking the opposite approach, taking the opportunity to shout, even gloat, and take extreme measures to “ban China”. They will not help curb the spread of the epidemic, but will instead create panic and cause huge losses to the global economy.

Our confidence comes from the strength of the socialist system which enables the country to rally resources to deal with daunting tasks, and from the Chinese people who have shown solidarity confronting the epidemic.

Our confidence comes from a growing awareness of prevention, more effective diagnosis, tighter controls on the spread of coronavirus, and the worldwide efforts to develop vaccines and drugs. Spain has an advanced health system, advanced medical technology and rich experience in emergency response. We are ready to tackle the epidemic.

The virus should not be used for politically motivated attacks. Unfortunately, we have seen discrimination against Chinese people in some countries because of the epidemic.

But at the same time, we are even happier to see the full understanding, firm support and sincere wishes of the Spanish government and people. King Felipe VI, the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez and the relevant Spanish government departments have all emphasized that there is no reason to treat Asian residents as suspected carriers of the new coronavirus. Every day, we receive letters from all over Spain. People are all cheering for China, paying tribute to the Chinese people and fighting against the discrimination shown toward the Chinese.

We in turn would like to reassure the Spanish people that most recent arrivals from China have taken proper precautions. When you see Chinese people wearing masks in public places, please don’t be nervous. This is a sign of responsibility on the part of the Chinese people, who are not only protecting themselves but others. People with the same determination can overcome all challenges. We sincerely thank our Spanish friends for their selfless help and sincere encouragement to China. We firmly believe that with the concerted efforts of the international community, we will be able to beat the epidemic and win victory.

MA XUEJING / CHINA DAILY