China has extended a valuable helping hand to Laos.
A team of Chinese medical experts, along with medical materials, arrived in the Lao capital Vientiane by a chartered plane Sunday morning to assist Laos to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, Xinhua reported.
Somdy Douangdy, Lao deputy prime minister and chair of the Task Force Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, and Chinese Ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong received the Chinese medical experts at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane.
The Chinese medical team includes experts in various fields such as infection prevention and control, intensive care, epidemics, and laboratory testing, the report said. They also brought along with medical supplies.The team came to Laos less than five days after the Lao side announced its first two confirmed Covid-19 cases and asked for assistance from China, the report said.
Laos has detected eight confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Saturday afternoon.
When welcoming the Chinese experts, Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somdy said that the Lao side is heartfully grateful for the Chinese medical expert team’s coming only in five days after Laos confirmed Covid-19 cases. China’s gesture reflects the profound friendship from the Chinese side to the Lao people, he said.
Ten experts
The medical team, made up of top experts in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province, brought extensive Chinese experience to Laos’ epidemic prevention and control, said the Lao deputy prime minister, the report said.
Somdy said the Lao side will make full use of the intellectual support and material assistance brought by the Chinese side, and will try its best to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.
“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” Jiang Zaidong said, adding that China will not forget in the early days of the outbreak, Laos donated money and multiple batches of anti-anpidemic materials to China, and tried its best to successfully organize the China-ASEAN Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease in Vientiane, the report said.
The Chinese people are always ready to return the kindness, sand Jiang.
Currently, the number of confirmed cases in Laos is increasing, and the pressure on prevention and control is rising, the report said.
Huang Xingli, the head of the Chinese medical expert team, said to Xinhua on arrival that the main tasks of the expert team are to share experiences and exchange with Lao local hospitals and experts, to introduce China’s anti-epidemic experience, to provide consultation to the Lao side on epidemic prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment and laboratory work, and to provide training and guidance for the Lao medical staff and community staff.
Along with the team also came medical treatment, protective supplies and a batch of Chinese and Western medicines donated by China’s Yunnan Province.
Meanwhile, China Daily reported that the Wuxi-based Hodo Group donated 1 million face masks to Cambodia on March 28 to help the country in its fight against Covid-19.
The donation event held in Wuxi, East China’s Jiangsu province, was attended by a number of government officials, including Huang Qin, Wuxi Party Secretary, and Tean Samnang, consul general of Cambodia in Shanghai.
“Cambodia offered strong support to China when it was hit hard by the virus,” said Zhou Haijiang, CEO of Hodo Group. “After more than 60 days of hard work, China’s fight against COVID-19 has seen significant progress, and now it’s our turn to help Cambodia fight the epidemic.”
