BEIJING China and ASEAN held the second video conference on COVID-19 to share experience and further cooperation.As close neighbours,China andASEAN countries have all along been helping each other since the COVID-19 broke out. On February 20, clinical experts from China and 10 ASEAN countries held the first video conferenceto exchange experiencein epidemic prevention and control. Yesterday saw another organized by the Chinese foreign ministry and the National Health Commission, coordinated bytheASEAN Secretariat, and attended by over 80 delegates including diplomats, health officials and medical experts from China and 10 ASEAN countries as well as the ASEAN Secretariat.There werein-depth discussions ontesting methods, case tracing, prevention and controlmeasures, clinicaltreatment and asymptomatic cases. The three-hour long conference yielded good results. Both sides believe it helps regional countries make concerted efforts and enhanceChina-ASEAN cooperationin combating the virus. CCTV: We know from yesterday’s announcement that the foreign ministry is considering the issue of overseas Chinese students returning to China. What specific measures will be taken next? Hua Chunying: The CPC Central Committee attaches greatimportanceto and cares deeply about Chinese students abroad. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 in many places worldwide and in accordance with the directions of the CPC Central Committee, the foreign ministry instructed all the embassies and consulates overseas to take overall actions and do everything possible to pass on the care of the Party and the Government to Chinese students overseas. Not long ago, China arranged temporary flights to transfer people facing dire situations in Iran and Italy back to China in an orderly manner. Recently, due to the spread of the pandemic, international passenger flights have been scaled down sharply and some Chinese students studying abroad runinto difficulties on their way back home. Uponlearning such problems, the Chinese embassies and consulates in Ethiopia, Cambodia, and other countries took immediate actions and went all-out to help the students return home safe and sound, both by contacting their host countries and coordinating withthe relevant departments backinChina. In view of the current situation in the UK and the difficulties faced by Chinese students there, the foreign ministry is actively coordinating with the Civil Aviation Administration and other departments to bring home students in need by extra flight tomorrow, April 2. China National Radio: Recently the journal Science published a paper by researchers in the United States, the UK and China. One of the paper’s authors, an Oxford fellow, said that without the Wuhan travel ban and the national emergency response by the Chinese government,there would have beenmorethan 700,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases outside ofWuhan by February 19. The report believes China’s controlmeasures worked by successfully breaking the chain of transmission and preventing contact between infectious and susceptible people and bought other cities valuable time. What’s your comment? Hua Chunying: The paper’s findings are consistentwithWHO’sviewandtheconsensusofmany countries’ leaders and experts. The Chinese government took the most comprehensive, thorough andrigorouspreventionandcontrolmeasuresatthe earliest time possible, which have been proven to be highly effective atthe current stage.—Xinhua
