Covid-19: Why China should have been listened to.

By Justin Ojangole

This year, China is celebrating 100 years of Communist Party of China (CPC) and 72^nd China’s Independence Day.

These celebrations are also happening when China is working together with the rest of the world to curb the woes Covid-19 pandemic.

When Covid-19 broke out in Wuhan City in China in 2019, the world wasted valuable time wanting to know the origin of the virus instead of controlling and fighting the pandemic. Some world leaders called it Chinese virus and tasked China to explain its origin.

While the world wasted time asking such questions, China squandered no chance in prioritising the tackling and fighting of Coronavirus as number one enemy.

Coronavirus is not the first virus to hit the world and should expect more viruses.

However, to force China to own the virus as man-made was quite myopic. Why should any country manufacture something that clearly can destroy even the manufacturer?

 Should the world now task World Health Organisationto review the origin of all viruses and have those countries own them?

May be if the world had listened to China’s call to come together to tackle the enemy together possibly we wouldn’t have reached to this level of damage.

There are some scientific measures that the world should have borrowed from China after learning about the outbreak of Coronavirus in Wuhan.

When China experienced the outbreak of Covid-19, it mobilised and sent a team of 340 medical staff supported by 40,000 medical workers. New hospitals were built, stadiums, exhibition and training centreswere temporarily transformed into hospital and quarantine centres.

The hospital beds were increased from 5,000 to 16,000 and 9,000 ICU beds were put in place to handle Covid-19 cases. China turned a deaf ear to the section of the world that was asking for the explanations of the origin of virus.

China’s early warning and emergency approach to Coronavirus helped the country from plunging into worst case scenario as other countries were busy repatriating their citizens forgetting that the world is now a global village.

China’s President Xi Jinping during his address to the global summit this year emphasised on the five key points to fight Covid-19 pandemic. He called for the world leaders to put people and their lives first, follow science-based policies and ensure a co-ordinated and systemic response, stick together and promote solidarity and co-operation, uphold fairness and equity as countries strive to close the immunisation gap and address the symptoms and root causes as we improve the governance system.

China has made good this pledge by providing free vaccines to more than 80 developing countries, $2b for COVID-19 response and economic and social recovery to developing countries, supported over 150 countries with medical supplies, including 13 international organisations. While receiving Covid-19 vaccines from China at National Medical Stores recently, Uganda’s health minister Jane Ruth Aceng thanked Chinese Ambassador Zhang Lizhong for the support of 300,000 vaccines to Uganda. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, China has supported Uganda with donation of masks, gloves, vaccines, personal protection equipment and other materials.

“The pandemic is the common enemy and common challenge of the mankind. The virus knows no border. To bring pandemic under control requires unity, solidarity, co-operation and joint action by the global community and rejects any attempt of politicisation, labelling or stigmatisation,” said Ambassador Zhang Lizhong during the handover of the vaccines.

President Yoweri Museveni has always hailed the support and the co-operation between Uganda and China. “We have had a very good relationship with China for a very long time. We are grateful for the support China has given us; the stadium, soft loans and other programmes and projects,” said President Museveni while meeting the Ambassador.

The lesson from China to the world is that to defeat Covid-19 needs joint effort and champion the vision of building a global community of health for all people in the world.

The writer is Executive Member of China – Africa Friendship Association and a Publisher of China – Uganda Friendship Magazine.