Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

The Chinese Government has said that drop in the remaining confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus has received an accelerated rate.

In the February 22, 2020 edition of the ‘Newsletter on Fighting 2019-nCoV’ made available to our correspondent in Abuja by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Nigeria, the Chinese Government disclosed that as of 24:00 on Feb 21, the National Health Commission of China received 76,288 reports of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, including 2,345 deaths and 20,659 patients cured and discharged from the hospital.

The Chinese Government further said there still remained 5,365 suspected cases, adding that so far, 113,564 are currently under medical observation, who have been identified as having had close contact with infected patients.

“The number of confirmed infections in China’s Hong Kong (68, incl. 2 death, 6 cured) and Macao (10, incl. 6 cured) special administrative regions and Taiwan province (26 incl. 1 death, 2 cured) had risen to 104 in total, according to the commission,” the Chinese Government said.

The Chinese Government has said the coronavirus epidemic will not change its global trade position.

The Director-General of the Department of Trade and Commercial Services, Ministry of Commerce, China, Xian Guoyi, stated that the epidemic will not alter the fundamentals of China’s foreign trade, foreign investment and core position within the global industrial chain in the long term.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO), has called for the sum of $675,000,000 to aid to 13 African countries and others in the fight against the epidemic.

The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made the call at a press briefing to support countries, especially those which are most vulnerable.

He added that it had identified 13 countries in Africa that were seen as a priority because of their links to China.

“Our biggest concern continues to be the potential for COVID-19 to spread in countries with weaker health systems,” the WHO Director General said.

The China Global Television Network (CGTN) also reported the Director-General of the WHO to have said that the WHO had shipped more than 30,000 sets of personal protective equipment to several African countries and was ready to ship almost 60,000 more sets to 19 countries in the coming weeks.

“The WHO has also appointed two specialists as special envoys to help African countries prepare for the potential arrival of the virus: the Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, and the Director-General of the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali, Samba Sow,” the CGTN wrote.