Workers in Chinese projects at the New Administrative Capital (NAC) are clear of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Chinese ambassador to Egypt, Liao Li Qiang, told Daily News Egypt over a press conference virtually held on Wednesday.
“Till now, no single Covid-19 case nor suspicion was diagnosed among the workers of the Central Business District (CBD) project that is carried out by a Chinese construction firm at NAC,” the ambassador said.
The Chinese companies are taking all the precautionary measures needed to protect its Egyptian and Chinese workers, the ambassador asserted, noting that Chinese companies at NAC hired doctors and nurses to accurately follow up the medical conditions of the workers in addition to distributing educational guide on COVID-19 prevention.
The locations of the Chinese projects as well as the residences, restaurants, offices and cars are sterilised regularly the ambassador mentioned, adding that all workers’ temperature measured twice a day while every worker has their own medical record to help medical personnel follow up on their medical conditions.
Recently, a number of media outlets reported that Chinese workers at NAC were the source of spreading the virus to their Egyptian colleagues earlier in March.
Moreover, China will send Egypt packages of medical supplies to combat COVID-19, the ambassador said, asserting his country’s keenness on supporting Egypt in its battle against the virus through several methods.
“China will make sure that the updated data to counter COVID-19 are transferred to the Egyptian side,” he added.
Chinese experts will virtually share their knowledge with Egyptian counterparts on COVID-19 on 26 March 2020 through online conference, he said, adding that both countries will boost their joint cooperation in the field of scientific research on COVID-19.
On the latest call made by President Abdel Fattah Al–Sisi to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping where the two leaders discussed the efforts to counter COVID-19, the ambassador said, “this call is the first direct communication between both countries’ leaders since meeting in G-20 meeting in Osaka, Japan in June last year. The call reaffirms the strategic comprehensive relations between both countries.”
The ambassador praised the measures taken by the Egyptian government to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, noting that curfew in the night will be useful to contain the spread of the virus.
The Chinese embassy is aware of the Egypt’s financial package to protect the its economy from COVID-19 fallout and considers it as good efforts, he mentioned.
During the conference the ambassador named what he called “the four secrets to Chinese success against the COVID-19 outbreak: “the wise leadership, shouldering of all the Chinese people, following the scientific precautionary measures against COVID-19, and raising the public awareness about staying at homes.”
“Early diagnosing of the virus, early informing the authorities, early quarantine, and early treatment are crucial to containment of the COVID-19 outbreak,” the ambassador said, adding that his country is sharing its knowledge on combating the virus with the countries that suffer the most including Iran, Italy, Iraq, Serbia and others.
On the social media posts reporting that a hantavirus positive case is believed to have been identified in China, and China of “spreading a new virus”, the ambassador said that “such accusations are groundless and irresponsible which we resolutely oppose.”
According to documents of the World Health Organization, scientists had identified the hantavirus, as early as in the 1970’s, he mentioned, adding that hantavirus cases appeared in many different regions and countries of the world for decades while vaccines for the hantavirus are already available.
On the issue of COVID-19, everyone should follow the professional guidance and scientific promulgations of the WHO, rather than politicizing or stigmatizing it, he added.
