Vietnam offers China $500,000 to fight coronavirus epidemic

Besides this, the Vietnam Red Cross will give $100,000 in similar aid directly to 31 localities in China, including Wuhan City in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the new outbreak.

Vietnam has also asked seven northern provinces that share a border with China – Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lang Son and Quang Ninh – to provide all help they can for the Chinese people.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had said earlier this week that Vietnam was willing to actively coordinate efforts with China in fighting the new coronavirus epidemic.

In the note sent to his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, Phuc expressed his sympathy for the losses and hardship that Chinese people were experiencing and hoped that with its vast experience in curbing the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003, China will successfully stop the new coronavirus soon.

China has confidence and capability to win the war against the new coronavirus, a Reuters report quoted the country’s foreign ministry spokeswoman as saying in response to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak a global emergency.

The virus has spread from mainland China to Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, the U.S., South Korea, France, Germany, Canada, Vietnam, the UAE, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India, the Philippines, the U.K., Russia, Finland, Nepal, Sweden, and Spain. Almost 12,000 people have been confirmed infected with the virus.

Chinese authorities said 259 people had died of the coronavirus infection as of Saturday morning.

They had confirmed Thursday that a Vietnamese woman in Jiangxi Province has tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Vietnam has recorded six infections so far - four Vietnamese and two Chinese nationals.

The Vietnamese government has deployed various measures to combat the virus, including halting all flights to coronavirus-hit areas, suspending visas for visitors from those regions, quarantining Chinese workers returning to Vietnam after Tet and suspending spring festivals as well as temporarily closing schools.