Zafar Mirza lauds China's support in fight against COVID-19

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Zafar Mirza expressed gratitude to China for extending cooperation to Pakistan in the fight against COVID-19, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Briefing the team of Chinese doctors at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, Zafar Mirza said that Pakistan is highly impressed with the way the Chinese government dealt with Covid-19 by putting timely measures to contain the severity of the killer bug.

He expressed hope that Pakistani health professionals will learn from their Chinese counterparts to stem the tide against coronavirus.

“Not a single coronavirus case was imported from China. This happened due to coordination and cooperation between the governments of Pakistan and China,” he added.

Dr Zafar Mirza said China has written a new chapter in the history of public health by putting around 60 million people under quarantine.

He said the arrival of Chinese doctors is also important as Pakistan is going to start the training of healthcare professionals in critical care.

He added that “Pakistan and China will continue cooperating with each other under the umbrella of China Pakistan Economic Corridor in the health sector too”.

China’s ambassador to Pakistan Mr Yao Jing addressing a ceremony said that China has made great headway into controlling the deadly pathogen and stands by their ‘iron brother’ Pakistan in their hour of need.

The Chinese ambassador added that the coronavirus has become a mammoth challenge for the entire world and unity and self-isolation were the only two ways to tackle the conundrum.

It may be noted that Pakistan’s count of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases soared to 1526 on Sunday, according to the latest statistics released by the National Command and Control Center.

Thus far 13 deaths from the disease have been reported in the country, while 28 have made full recoveries after contracting coronavirus.