-Yao Jing says Pakistan is our priority in fight against Coronavirus
-Dr Zafar Mirza expresses gratitude for cooperation
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Air Transport fleet of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has been assigned the onerous responsibility to Air lift medical equipment and relief goods from People’s Republic of China to help fight COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.
In this regard, a PAF IL- 78 aircraft laden with 14 tonnes of cargo comprising ventilators, N95 masks and protective gear landed at PAF Base Nur Khan early in the morning on Sunday, a PAF press release said.
“This is one of the many relief flights undertaken by PAF in past couple of months. These sorties also include the ones flown to COVID hit Chinese City of Wuhan, earlier this year.”
During these relief sorties tonnes of medical supplies were airlifted by PAF aircraft.
The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation today announced that the second batch of shipment of donated medical supplies, including testing kits and other medical equipment, arrived in Pakistan. This is in addition to previous batch, which landed in Pakistan on 25th March.
The National Disaster Management Authority, Government of Pakistan will transport and distribute the supplies throughout the country.
The shipment is part of the donation of medical supplies to 10 Asian countries announced on March 21. Collectively, the nations will receive a total of 1.8 million masks; kits for testing 210,000 people, 36,000 pieces of protective clothing, as well as essential medical equipment such as ventilators and forehead thermometers.
This donation is among a number of aid initiatives from the Alibaba Foundation and Jack Ma Foundation to support the areas of the world most affected by the Covid-19 crisis, sourcing and delivering various types of medical supplies to Asia, United States, Africa, Italy, Belgium, France, Slovenia, Spain and Latin America.
China’s ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Yao Jing on Sunday addressed a ceremony held in the honor of Chinese medical staff that has arrived in Pakistan to help-out during the global coronavirus pandemic, media reported.Jing said that China has made great headway into controlling the deadly pathogen and stands by their ‘iron brother’ Pakistan in there 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. Ambassador Yao Jing said that Pakistan was China’s first priority among every other nation in the world who are currently embroiled in a war against an invisible enemy.
The dignitary also said that he was resolute that with China’s help, Pakistan would soon gain total control of coronavirus and curb the disease like China itself has.
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. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Zafar Mirza Sunday expressed gratitude to China for extending cooperation to Pakistan in this difficult time in the form of supplying essential medical supplies and sharing expertise.
Talking to private news channels, he appreciated China’s assistance for Pakistani citizens and said the arrival of Chinese doctors is important as Pakistan is just going to start training of healthcare professionals in critical care. Zafar Mirza said Pakistan and China will continue cooperating with each other under the umbrella of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the health sector too.
He also expressed hope that Pakistani health professionals will learn from their Chinese counterparts to stem the tide against coronavirus. He said China has written a new history as for providing best public health facilities to corona patients by putting around 60 million people under quarantine.
“World has learnt a lot from China regarding the prevention and control of communicable diseases”, he added. Not even a single case came from China, he said, adding, this happened due to coordination and cooperation between the governments of Pakistan and China.
He said Pakistan is highly impressed with the way Chinese government dealt with thev Covid-19 by putting in place appropriate measures at appropriate time to contain the severity of the killer bug. This joint fight against the epidemic, the traditional friendship and mutual trust between the two countries will be deepened, and the bilateral all-round cooperation will enjoy even broader prospects, he mentioned. On behalf of the Pakistani government and people, he expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Chinese side, and said he believes that after the epidemic, the relationship between Pakistan and China will be more stronger.
