City experts help Malaysia's virus fight

Medical experts from Shanghai shared their COVID-19 experiences with Malaysian counterparts during an online conference on Thursday held by the city’s Foreign Affairs Office, the Embassy of China in Malaysia and the Ministry of Health Malaysia.

As of Thursday, there had been 1,796 confirmed cases in Malaysia and 19 deaths.

“To flatten the curve,” Malaysia has restricted public gatherings from March 18 to April 14, according to Dr Hishamshah Bin Mohamad Ibrahim, deputy director-general of research and technical support at the Malaysian health ministry. 

Two local infectious disease specialists — Dr Shen Yinzhong from Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Dr Qiu Zhongmin of Tongji University School of Medicine — communicated with Malaysian medical professionals from over 20 hospitals throughout the country.

Doctors offered their insights on Malaysia’s anti-virus protocol in terms of clinic treatments such as favipravir, steroids and convalescent serum.

As there are no specific drugs for the virus, they emphasized the necessity of comprehensive approaches involving isolation and quarantine to prevent in-hospital infections and protect medical staff, as well as focusing on the dynamic of each clinical stage.

“The purpose of the discussion is to share needed diagnosis and treatment methods of COVID-19, which are valuable experiences from what we’ve gone through,” said Bei Zhaojian, deputy director-general of the Shanghai foreign affairs office. 

“China will not sit idle during this trying time. We want to reach out to help our friends, which is President Xi’s philosophy that we are one community with a shared destiny,” said Bai Tian, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of China to Malaysia.

He said Malaysia had provided many donations to China, and that Chinese people would stand together with Malaysia until victory.

“We are sincerely grateful for the support provided by the Shanghai Health Commission and Foreign Affairs Office,” said Dr Goh Pik Pin, director of the Malaysian health ministry’s clinical research center.

China helped Malaysia with essential prevention guides and a large quantity of protective equipment over the weekend, including urgently needed ventilators.