On Wednesday afternoon, Chinese experts and officials from health and customs departments shared information and experience about COVID-19 in a video conference with officials and healthcare specialists from the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and 24 African countries.

 

Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse spoke highly of the video conference organized by the Chinese government, saying China has shared "amazing experience in curbing this outbreak" with African countries.

 

Deputy Director of Africa CDC Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma told Xinhua that the video conference is a good example set by the Chinese government, which has placed its experience on the table so that African countries can use in the fight against the pandemic.

 

"China has already done a very big effort in controlling this outbreak," said Ouma.

 

"We are very impressed by the reduction in the numbers; and we think in a short while, the outbreak should be declared finished in China," he said. "The experience that China has undergone is very important for us."

 

On Thursday, officials and experts from about 10 European countries including France, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal and Albania held a video conference with their Chinese counterparts.

 

"China has accumulated rich and valuable experience in the prevention and control of this epidemic, which can help Europe avoid detours," Jean-Pierre Armand, an oncologist at the Gustave Roussi Oncology Institute in France, told Xinhua after attending the conference.

 

About 50 percent of recently detected coronavirus cases in Europe are patients aged under 60, said Armand. For him, there is a particularly urgent need to learn from China's experience in treating younger patients.

 

Liya Ju, chief executive officer of Paris-based Europe PreciMed Platform, said that China's experience has proved that large-scale testing and screening, as well as effective isolation and treatment, are good ways to curb the pandemic.

 

"When Europe was hit by the flu more than 100 years ago, doctors had to fight alone in their own country," she said. "Nowadays, European and Chinese experts can share experience thousands of miles apart, which in itself is a strong support for an early victory over the epidemic."

 

At China's initiative, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday held a special video conference on COVID-19 with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

 

Wang said that facing the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, it is a natural choice for the three countries to strengthen cooperation to tide over the difficulties together.

 

Kang and Motegi thanked China for providing support and assistance to their countries in fighting COVID-19 and briefed Wang on the efforts and progress that South Korea and Japan have made in responding to the pandemic.

 

Outside China, the pandemic has killed more than 6,500 people, as the cumulative number of cases surpassed 150,000, the World Health Organization said Friday in a daily situation report.

 

More than 230,000 cases have been reported worldwide, including over 9,000 deaths, the report said.