Foreign Ministry calls for united global effort against novel coronavirus

Countries should join hands to overcome the novel coronavirus outbreak, Beijing said on Tuesday, reiterating its opposition to unreasonably strong reactions to the epidemic.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remark in an online daily news conference, after the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday called on countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based to tackle the epidemic. The director-general also called on countries to combat the spread of rumors and misinformation.

Hua said China has taken unprecedented and strict measures to tackle the epidemic, many of which exceed the WHO's suggestions and requirements in the International Health Regulations.

A report the WHO issued on Monday shows there are a total of 153 confirmed cases in countries outside China. The number is less than 1 percent of the total cases in the Chinese mainland, Hua said, adding that China has made efforts in preventing the spread of the disease in other countries.

The death rate of the cases in the Chinese mainland is about 2.1 percent, far lower than that of the H1N1 flu that broke out in the United States in 2009, MERS and Ebola, Hua said, adding that cured cases have outnumbered deaths since Saturday.

The WHO declared the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern mainly to provide international assistance to countries that have weaker health systems and lack public health capacity, and the organization several times has voiced its confidence in China's ability to overcome the epidemic, Hua said.

"However, it was precisely some developed countries with sound health systems and advanced public health capabilities that imposed excessive restrictions on China, which clearly runs counter to the WHO's advice," she said.

"The virus knows no border," Hua emphasized, adding that cooperation in the face of the epidemic is in line with all countries' interests.