Global COVID-19 cooperation maintained

Special: Battle Against Novel Coronavirus

China has maintained pragmatic cooperation and open, transparent communication with the World Health Organization and countries and regions worldwide since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago, Mi Feng, a spokesman for the National Health Commission, said on Tuesday.

In January 2020, the country offered to establish a technical communication mechanism with the WHO, and over the past three years, Chinese technical departments, institutions and experts have closely communicated with the organization, Mi said at a news conference.

The two sides have held more than 60 technical discussions on COVID-19 epidemic control, medical treatment, vaccine development and virus origin tracing, he said.

China has also held more than 300 epidemic control talks and conducted related activities with more than 180 countries and regions and over 10 international organizations, and it has shared its experiences in epidemic control without reservations, Mi said.

Since China announced 10 new optimized epidemic control measures last month, it has held two conferences with the WHO — one on Dec 9 and the other on Dec 30, with in-depth discussions on the nation's epidemic situation and its medical treatment and vaccination efforts, he said.

China is willing to continue cooperating with the WHO and the international community to contribute to ending the pandemic, he added.

Speaking at a news briefing on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that since the outbreak of the epidemic, China has been actively participating in international anti-epidemic cooperation, and worked together with the international community to respond to the challenges of the epidemic as soon as possible.

A few days ago, the Chinese authority and the WHO held a special video conference. The two sides exchanged views on the current epidemic situation, medical treatment, vaccination and other technical issues, and agreed to continue technical exchanges to help the world end the pandemic as soon as possible, she said.