CAIRO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- China's experience in fighting against COVID-19 presents a great role model to some Arab countries which are struggling to combat the pandemic, experts said after taking part in a video-conference on Thursday.
The video-meeting on response to the novel coronavirus outbreak was joined by health officials and experts from China and more than 10 countries in the West Asia and North Africa, including Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and Kuwait.
"We discussed during the meeting the excellent Chinese plan in dealing with the coronavirus and the way to treat the infected people and suspected cases," Samir Nairat, director of a government hospital in the Gaza Strip, told Xinhua.
The conference came in time, especially as the virus is spreading widely in the world, Nairat added.
A Palestinian medical team, including more than 10 directors of government and private hospitals in the West Bank, participated in the video-conference.
"Chinese health experts informed us the basic precautionary measures that we should follow up to combat the disease in our countries," Salam Ratrout, a senior official of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, told Xinhua.
Earlier on Thursday, Palestinian government's spokesperson Ibrahim Milhem announced that the total number of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Palestine has risen to 86.
Mustafa al-Qawasmi, director general of emergency of the Ministry of Health, said that Palestine has adopted the Chinese model after the first COVID-19 case was reported in Palestine.
"We followed Chinese people on how they dealt with the condition by separating the provinces from each other, imposing home quarantine on thousands of people, and raising awareness among people to adhere to all preventive measures," al-Qawasmi added.
Mazen Qusaibati, head of the internal diseases department at the Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital in Syria, said that the video-conference helped the country "save time" and "avoid mistakes" in dealing with the virus as the number of the confirmed cases in the country has increased to five on Wednesday.
"We were in need of the information and we have many questions in our mind as we needed experts, like the Chinese ones, to answer because this is a new disease and it's not explained in books or medical references," Qusaibati told Xinhua.
"I am sure that the Chinese experience answers our questions. I personally think that the meeting was extremely helpful, particularly that we are listening to the questions from other Arab countries, which share the same questions about the pandemic," the expert added.
Walid Ammar, director general of the Public Health Ministry and head of the National Infectious Disease Committee in Lebanon, said that his country is ready to learn from China's model to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has been proven to be effective.
China's experience and lessons, earned by overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak, will contribute helping curb the spread of the coronavirus across the world, Iman Shankiti, World Health Organization representative to Lebanon, told Xinhua.
"I hope that we can all do as well as China," she added, as COVID-19 cases in Lebanon increased on Thursday to 368.
Meanwhile, officials in Sudan and Kuwait also commended China's experience in fighting COVID-19, regarding it as a guide to curb the virus' spread.
"China's experience in facing the coronavirus is very useful," Amged Abdelmgeed, head of Bilateral and Multilateral Relations Department of the Global Health's General Directorate at Sudan's Health Ministry, said in an interview with Xinhua.
He said China's experience is also successful in relation to reducing infection rates and achieving high recovery rate.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese health official hailed the bilateral cooperation and coordination in fighting diseases, as well as health agreements and programs, including successive Chinese medical missions to Sudan.
Sudan has been struggling to prevent the spread of coronavirus after the authorities have officially declared three confirmed coronavirus infection cases, including one death.
"The scientific evidence of confirmed cases and deaths that was published by the World Health Organization showed the success and the effectiveness of the measures taken by China," Rehab Al-Wotayan, director of the international healthcare relations in Kuwaiti Health Ministry, told Xinhua.
Kuwait's confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have increased to 208, its health ministry announced Thursday.
