*Zhou Jian appreciates Qatar's help to China; offers Chinese assistance to meet coronavirus challenges

The Government of Qatar has taken all the necessary precautionary measures to protect its inhabitants and curb the spread of novel coronavirus while maintaining transparency and increasing the awareness of people to avoid infection, Chinese ambassador in Doha Zhou Jian said Wednesday.
Speaking to the media on the latest updates of coronavirus infection in China, Wuhan in particular, he stressed that China has been able to overcome the difficult time.
"Facing the sudden outbreak and a brand new virus, we had to find effective solutions from ground zero, and perfect our measures through experience. Fortunately, we have achieved successful Chinese experience and Chinese 'prescription',” he said.
He explained that there are a number of factors behind such a success, which included taking timely measures to prevent the spread of the disease and deploying all the available scientific knowledge to treat the infected cases instantly. The ambassador thanked all the friends of China, Qatar in particular, for hurrying to offer his country all the support they could to combat the disease and overcome the crisis. Accordingly, he expressed the willingness of China to share the gained successful experiences and scientific knowledge in the field with the whole world to help control the epidemic.
"During the outbreak, leaders of over 170 countries including Qatar, and heads of more than 40 international organisations have sent messages of sympathy and support to China. Some 71 countries and nine organisations have donated supplies to China," he pointed out.
He said: "Recently, the spread of the virus has accelerated in the region; Qatar has also reported a number of confirmed cases. We noticed that under the leadership of His Highness the Emir, the Ministry of Public Health and other departments quickly responded , and has taken a series of timely and decisive measures. At the Hamad International Airport, we can see efficient measures to screen passengers and treat suspected cases; also the government has provided accommodation to those in need of quarantine, and treatment to the infected at the Communicable Diseases Center. We can also see official publicity in multiple languages, on TV, on websites and in social media, to release information timely and raise the awareness of the public."
He said at present, the risk of the virus spreading in Qatar remains low.
Zhou said Chinese scientists have already developed seven testing kits, one of which can detect six kinds of respiratory virus at the same time while some of the upcoming vaccines are expected to enter clinical use in April. He said there are solid hopes that by the end of April great advancement will be achieved to control the disease completely.
"We will never forget that when China was facing a difficult time, it was Qatar that lent a helping hand to us. Now, the virus has spread to Qatar, and the Chinese people stand together with the Qatari people, and are ready to provide any necessary help," he affirmed.
In the meantime, he stressed that "as the coronavirus continues to spread, while taking effective measures inside China, we will provide support to foreign countries to the best of our abilities. We have donated $20mn to WHO to fight the coronavirus, and improve public health abilities in developing countries. We have provided test kits to Pakistan, Japan, Iran, South Korea, North Korea, Thailand, Laos and the African Union, sent expert teams to Iran and Iraq, and shared treatment methods with many more countries. The Chinese government has also established communication mechanism at technical level with WHO, European Union, African Union, Asean and CELAC, as well as badly-hit countries like Iran and South Korea."
The ambassador, quoting a Chinese saying , said only international cooperation and collaboration will help the world overcome such difficult times. He further pointed out that people have to remain calm and do not listen to rumours and unverified information while abiding by the advice of the authorities concerned to stay safe.