Pakistan has so far managed to keep the spread of COVID-19 to a low rate due to assistance from its time-tested and fast friend, China.

An expert medical team has left Pakistan after providing the necessary training to Pakistani health officials, doctors, and para-medical staff. They have given intensive training and crash courses to Pakistani health experts in all major cities, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi.

The Chinese team was on a two-week visit to Pakistan and provided timely and valuable assistance to help deal with, overcome, and mitigate the challenges brought by COVID-19. At a critical time, the Pakistan-China relationship has once again proven that it can pass any test.

China has also been looking after Pakistani nationals in China during the COVID-19 outbreak.

China has provided critical medical supplies to Pakistan, including N95 masks, protective suits, testing kits, medical masks, and non-woven fabric for making protective suits.

Chinese assistance in the form of expert advice and medical materials was timely and has helped Pakistan in its efforts to contain COVID-19.

Pakistan has a population of 200 million, the sixth-largest in the world. However, as it was passing through an adverse economic crisis, the country was not ready to face the challenge posed by the contagion, and faced a major hurdle from its lack of medical facilities, medical materials, and expertise.

As a result of Chinese assistance, Pakistan was able to contain the outbreak to a significant extent. The number of confirmed cases is 36 per million of the population, compared to the highest in the world of 300 per million of the population. The number of deaths stands at 0.7 per million of the population, while the world average is 20.6 per million of the population.

Containing the spread of the virus has been possible with the intelligent policies formulated in close coordination with Chinese experts and precautionary measures that were promptly put in place. Medical materials provided by China were fully utilized to control the spread of the disease.

China was the first victim of COVID-19, and after a huge struggle, became the first country to achieve significant results against it. The Chinese experience is valuable and can serve as a guide for the rest of the world.

The history of China-Pakistan friendship is full of such examples, where we stood side by side in difficult moments and always helped each other.

This exemplary friendship was inherited from previous generations, and we have the responsibility to pass it on to the next generation. The eternal love and friendship between China and Pakistan will live forever. Long Live the China-Pakistan friendship. 

The opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to People's Daily Online.

Zamir Ahmed Awan is a senior fellow with the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and a sinologist at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan. E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com