Officials, experts recognize China's efforts to contain novel coronavirus

Officials and experts worldwide have commended China's efforts to control the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak and its transparent information sharing with the international community.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Friday that China has full confidence and capability to win the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic.

China's immigration authorities have advised Chinese citizens to postpone overseas travel to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

People who exhibit respiratory infection symptoms must immediately abort their border-crossing travel plans to seek medical help, China's National Immigration Administration said, demanding such travelers disclose their itineraries and transportation information to authorities.

"Everybody has appreciated the extraordinary measures by the Chinese authorities," said Zafar Mirza, special assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.

"These measures have made the world safe to a large extent to stop the spread of the virus. Pakistan and the entire world believe these measures are appreciable," he said.

"Chinese authorities reacted swiftly when they became aware of the seriousness of the matter, closing off Wuhan (the epicenter of the outbreak and capital of Hubei province) to avoid more infections," Joao Guimaraes, of Brazil's Santa Maria Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, told Xinhua.

"Everything I have read about what is being done seems reasonable and right to me," said Guimaraes.

On Wednesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said "the level of commitment (of the leadership) in China is incredible; I will praise China again and again, because its actions actually helped in reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus to other countries."

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that China's information policy on the virus is transparent and works better.

Kerry Chant, chief health officer of the Ministry of Health of the Australian state of New South Wales, said they are "very pleased that China has shared the details of the outbreak and that they've shared the virus sequences quite early."

"We also note that the World Health Organization has got teams in places in China. These are all positive steps. And we're really pleased with the level of information sharing," Chant said.

China's efforts are "remarkably impressive," said John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The government of China has been forthcoming in reporting the numbers, informing the world," Nkengasong said.

Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, a German organization for disease control, praised Chinese specialists for the early release of the genome sequence of the virus.

"We have to clearly address our respect to our Chinese colleagues for identifying the virus very early, releasing the sequence of the virus very early, which is very important," Wieler said.

The findings were delivered to the world with an open access so the whole world could develop diagnostic tools, he said, adding "China is taking a strong and fast reaction."