After 50-day stay, experts move on from Iraq, but work goes on across Asia

BAGHDAD/KUALA LUMPUR－After 50 days of hard work, a team of Chinese medical experts on Sunday ended their mission to help tackle the coronavirus epidemic in Iraq.

At a farewell ceremony at Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi Transport Minister Abdullah Luaibi thanked the experts and offered bouquets as a gesture of the country's appreciation for China's assistance.

At the invitation of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, the seven experts arrived on March 7.

After years of war and conflicts, Iraq's health system is fragile, compounded by the damage to hospitals and other medical facilities and a shortage of medical professionals and supplies.

Without a national prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19, the worn-torn country had faced difficulties in containing the outbreak.

However, the Chinese team made significant progress in boosting Iraq's virus-testing capacity and strengthening its capabilities.

The Chinese experts visited areas from Basra in southern Iraq to the Kurdistan region in the north, conducting investigations in nine of the country's 18 provinces and providing guidance to health officials and other experts.

On March 25, a laboratory was inaugurated in the Medical City complex in central Baghdad for polymerase chain reaction testing. Staff at the facility, which was set up by the Chinese experts, have since completed more than 7,000 tests, by this diagnostic method, for identifying the virus.

The assistance also included the provision of advanced medical screening equipment, such as mobile X-ray and CT facilities, which also are accurate in detecting COVID-19.

Over the 50 days, the Chinese experts met more than 200 Iraqi health officials, conducted 27 video training and face-to-face guidance sessions, as well training some 1,000 medical staff.

Moreover, the experts brought China's front-line prevention and control experience to bear against the deadly virus and instructed their Iraqi counterparts on how to carry out clinical diagnoses, case treatments, and guard against infections in hospitals.

"We are very obliged," said Iraqi Health Minister Jaafar Sadiq Allawi, adding that the Chinese experts "were very supportive in the fight against the pandemic in Iraq".

Yasin Ahmed Abbas, head of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, said: "The aid was vital, and that it was a turning point for Iraq to have such assistance and experts with their best practices to support the Iraqi health system.

"Chinese aid is a real manifestation of friendship when you stand with me in a crisis. This is proof of the keen friendship of the Chinese people with Iraq, so thank you, China."

Farid Abdulkadir, the country representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Iraq, said: "We are learning from China, which achieved success in the fight against COVID-19."

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Sunday said the country had so far recorded 1,820 COVID-19 cases and 87 deaths.

$265m Saudi deal

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and China on Sunday signed a deal for expanding coronavirus testing capacity in the country.

The Saudi Press Agency said that under the deal, worth $265 million, China will provide 9 million COVID-19 test kits, along with other devices and supplies. Also, 500 experts will be sent to conduct the tests and train Saudi medics.

As of Monday, Saudi health authorities had confirmed 17,522 cases and 139 deaths.

In Central Asia, Kyrgyz Vice-Prime Minister Aida Ismailova said on Sunday that a Chinese medical team that arrived on April 20 had made important contributions to Kyrgyzstan's fight against the virus.

At a ceremony, Ismailova expressed his gratitude to the group on behalf of the Kyrgyz government.

The 10-member team, from Western China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, includes six experts specializing in disease prevention and control, traditional Chinese medicine and respiratory medicine. They were scheduled to leave on Monday.

In Malaysia's Sarawak state, eight medical consultants from China arrived there on Sunday, after spending a week in the country's capital Kuala Lumpur, where they treated COVID-19 patients.

XINHUA—AGENCIES