As the spread of COVID-19 is posing an especially severe challenge to the Middle East, Chinese experts are fighting alongside their Middle Eastern counterparts, and China's sharing of experience and donation of supplies have been boosting confidence and capability for the region in the fight against coronavirus.

by Xinhua writers Wang Jian, Zhang Miao, Chen Lin

CAIRO, March 29 -- The spread of COVID-19 is now posing an especially severe challenge to the Middle East, where chronic wars, sanctions, famine, financial collapse and political unrest have wrecked the preventive efforts against the ferocious virus.

Tens of thousands of coronavirus cases have been registered in the region so far, with the figure in Iran alone exceeding 35,000. Cases were also reported in Syria and Libya, where wars are still raging and vast multitudes of displaced people are acutely vulnerable to diseases.

At such a critical moment, some Chinese medics are fighting alongside their Middle Eastern counterparts, and China's sharing of experience and donation of supplies have been boosting confidence and capability for the region in the fight against the pandemic.

A plane carrying medical supplies donated by a Chinese company arrives in Algiers, Algeria, on March 27, 2020.(Xinhua)

TIMELY HELP

In Iraq's capital Baghdad, a new PCR (polymerase chain reaction) laboratory is ready to be put into use. The lab, recently established with the help of Chinese experts, is expected to greatly improve the war-torn country's capacity to confirm cases from suspected ones.

"The testing ability in Iraq is far from enough," said Yang Honghui, who arrived in Baghdad on March 7 as part of a seven-member Chinese medical team sent by the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

Previously, the Central Public Health Laboratory in Baghdad was the only place for PCR test in Iraq, with a capacity to do 200-400 tests per day, said Yang, with the DAAN Gene Co., Ltd. of Sun Yat-sen University.