By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Feb 17: The members of the Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions have raised a total of RM107,500 as financial assistance for the Chinese government to combat the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
During the association’s 41st anniversary celebration yesterday, the first batch of the funds was handed over to deputy consul-general of China in Kuching, Zhang Yang during a ceremony at a hotel here.
Earlier on, Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions president Datuk Richard Wee mentioned in his speech that the association had started a donation campaign to raise funds for the Chinese government in its efforts to combat Covid-19.
Meanwhile, consul-general of China in Kuching, Cheng Guangzhong revealed that as at February 14, there were 56,873 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in China while 8,096 patients have been discharged and 1,523 patients succumbed to the disease.
He noted that to date, there were 60 medical teams comprising 25,000 doctors and medical staff despatched from other provinces in China to Wuhan to help efforts against the disease.
He also shared that there were 1,716 cases of medical staff infected with Covid-19 as at February 14 out of which six have passed away.
Cheng noted that the number of new cases has declined in the past few days while there were an increase in the number of patient recoveries.
“The Chinese government has been taking concrete measures to control the epidemic while stabilising economic growth at the same time.
“With confidence and capability, China will prevail over the epidemic with minimised economic impact, ensuring the realisation of our 13th five-year plan and the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects in the year 2020.
“China will not be defeated. After the epidemic, I believe that China will be even stronger than before.
“I’m confident that through our joint efforts, both China and Sarawak will have a more prosperous and bright future,” he said in his text-of-speech which was read out by Zhang.
He disclosed that since the beginning of the outbreak, the Chinese government has exhausted all possible means, including locking down Wuhan, a major city with a population of more than 11 million, calling off all outbound tourist groups and identifying and sharing the gene sequence of Covid-19 with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other countries within the first week.
He added that the WHO highly values China’s effective prevention and control measures and that the Chinese government appreciates the cooperation of other countries including Malaysia and Sarawak to help the country in the fight against Covid-19.
Cheng also expressed gratitude to the various leaders, Chinese associations and the community in their efforts in helping China to combat Covid-19 with every form of assistance.
Among those present at the anniversary celebration were Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting, Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions vice-president-cum-event organising chairman Tay Boon Sin and members of various Chinese associations. — DayakDaily
