To help China combat the coronavirus, Iran donated more than 3 million face masks and provided some medical equipment from the Iranian market.

“This is not a challenge only for China, but for the whole world,” said Khalil Shirgholami, Consul General of Iran in Guangzhou in an interview with Newsgd.com at the beginning of February. “All of us must take responsibility and adopt good measures together to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).”

Khalil Shirgholami, Consul General of Iran in Guangzhou (Photo: Steven Yuen)

The Consul General indicated that they will stand with China, as both Iran and China have been good friends throughout history.

“We will try to do whatever we can to help our Chinese friends,” he added.

Iranian people cheer for Wuhan. (Video provided by Consulate-General of Iran in Guangzhou)

“China adopts a responsible approach to curb the spread of the coronavirus”

In order to contain the spread of the coronavirus, it was decided that Wuhan, at the center of the outbreak, would be locked down as of January 23rd.

“I’m very impressed by the measures that China has implemented to stop the spread of the coronavirus,” Shirgholami indicated. “although the Chinese government knew that the measures would do harm to the economy.”

According to the WHO, China has been consistent with the latest information since the outbreak has happened in Wuhan.

“China’s policies are quite transparent and they have adopted a very responsible approach to stop the spread of the coronavirus,” the Consul General indicated. “The timely information disclosure has kept the people in other countries well informed.”

The Consul General stressed that this fight needs international cooperation, and discrimination against China because of the virus is inadvisable. “Everybody should take part in fight against the epidemic, and we must take care not to overreact to it, otherwise it will lead to more panic.”

Recently, China has released stricter management of residential blocks, allocated more medical resources from other provinces to Wuhan, and enhanced personal hygiene and the disinfection of public places amid the travel peak returning from holiday.

“Chinese people have been gone through different challenges throughout history,” the Consul General said. “We are confident that they will win the battle against the coronavirus”

Author: Hannah Zhou, Steven Yuen

Editor: Wing Zhang, Simon Haywood

Zoey Huang also made contribution to this story.