Till now, China has contained more than 99 percent of the confirmed cases within its borders.

Since the outbreak, China has been taking decisive and unprecedented measures, including locking down cities, to protect public health both domestically and globally.

Thanks to the self-imposed sacrifices, the world has so far not seen a major global outbreak.

Medical team members cheer for each other before leaving for Wuhan, at the Haikou Meilan International Airport in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 4, 2020. (Photo by Pu Xiaoxu/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The pedestrian path at the foot of the Acropolis hill in the heart of Athens was lit red on Friday evening for an hour.

Hundreds of Greeks and Chinese people living in Greece held a gathering and walked around the neighborhood holding Chinese red lanterns to express solidarity with China in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia outbreak.

"The world should show gratitude to the Chinese people for their courage and sacrifices in battling the disease decisively and in preventing its spread to other countries," said Fotis Provatas, president of the Chamber of Greek-Chinese Economic Cooperation, which organized the event.