Ambassador Gui Briefs ECDC on Chinese Efforts to Combat COVID-19

Stockholm, On 13 February, Ambassador Gui Congyou visited European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and briefed Director of ECDC Dr. Andrea Ammon on the efforts by the Chinese side to control the Novel Cronavirus Pneumonia (NCP) epidemic.

Ambassador Gui said, there is a Chinese saying that goes “lives are of paramount importance”. Immediately after the unexpected NCP outbreak, the Communist Party and Government of China took the most comprehensive, thorough and stringent measures even beyond the standards of WHO, which is to put the security and health of 1.4 billion Chinese people at first and to prevent the epidemic from spreading to other countries to the maximum extent out of responsibility for people all over the world. The Chinese side is launching a general offensive against the outbreak by preventing new infections, decreasing the number of cases and doing our best to reduce the rate of severe cases and mortality, increasing the number of cured patients and patients discharged from hospitals. The Chinese side is confident and capable of defeating the epidemic at an early date. In a globalized world, no country is insulated from the others. The Chinese side is willing to strengthen cooperation with ECDC to jointly fight the epidemic and contribute to the global cause of public health.

Dr. Ammon said, since the outbreak, every day the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention provides data and information regarding the virus to ECDC transparently and openly, which helps ECDC to provide recommendations to EU member states based on scientific evidence. I sincerely thank my Chinese colleagues for that. There are some cases in Europe where Chinese people were discriminated, which my colleagues and I regret to see. It is not the European way. Health authorities from EU countries stressed the importance of being united with China at the difficult time. A number of EU countries also donated medical supplies to China via WHO. The ECDC hopes to keep close contact with Chinese authorities, and work to defeat the outbreak as soon as possible.

After the meeting, Dr. Ammon accompanied Ambassador Gui and his delegation on a tour around ECDC.

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