China says in communication with India to provide assistance to combat COVID-19 surge

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that “for the recently deteriorating epidemic situation in India we send our sincere sympathies.”

“The Chinese government and the people firmly support the Indian government and their people in their fight,” he said responding to a question from the official Chinese media.

“Based on the need of the Indian side, we stand ready to offer support and assistance. We are now holding communications with the Indian side,” he said.

“We believe the Indian people will surely conquer the epidemic at an early date,” he said.

The first COVID-19 case was reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and since then the deadly disease has become a pandemic that has affected more than 144,771,350 people and claimed over 3,072,614 lives worldwide.

According to Johns Hopkins’ coronavirus tracker, the US alone has reported 31,862,987 cases and 569,404 deaths from the deadly virus.

The US has alleged that the COVID-19 may have emanated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) which is a P-4 bio lab, a charge strongly denied by China.

A team of WHO experts, which probed the origin of the coronavirus, concluded last month that “all hypotheses” included the allegation that COVID-19 could have emanated from a bio lab “remained open”.

India is currently facing a massive surge in coronavirus infections. India on Friday added a record over 3.32 lakh new coronavirus cases in a single day taking the country’s tally to 1,62,63,695, while active cases crossed the 24-lakh mark.