China sharing experience on COVID-19 'nothing short of excellence': WHO experts

GENEVA - Having China share its experiences with other countries on containing the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is nothing short of excellence, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead for the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said at a daily briefing that China's experience in fighting COVID-19 needs to be shared, referring to China's latest support in terms of experts and medical equipment to Iran.

"This is an excellent example of peer-to-peer sharing what has been done, what can be done in other countries, and having direct interaction with another country," said Kerkhove.

She underlined it's important for China to share experiences in cases and contacts finding, caring and management of patients, on how to ready hospitals and personal protective equipment, as well as in infection prevention and control.

"That direct interaction is what we want to see more and more happen. So having China share its experience with other countries is nothing short of excellence," she added.

Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Program, said that experts from China and the WHO are at the time "probably sitting together to discuss" the COVID-19 situation in Iran.

"The Iranian government is very keen that the Chinese expert team and the WHO team come together as happened in China," he said, adding that the experts will share experience, double their impact, and have a joint approach against the outbreak in Iran.