Russian medical experts on the way to aid research

Five Russian medical experts are on their way for China to help fight the novel coronavirus, said Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui during a news conference in Moscow.

Zhang made the announcement to Chinese and Russian media on Monday.

According to Zhang, the experts are from the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare and the Ministry of Health.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexeyevna Golikova later confirmed the announcement, saying Russian experts will work with their Chinese partners to research the novel coronavirus and jointly work on vaccines.

"The Chinese have full confidence about winning the battle against the novel coronavirus," Zhang said.

Zhang said that even before Russian experts were ready to depart for China, the two countries were maintaining close cooperation in coronavirus research, and China has received many suggestions and advice from the Russian side.

President Xi Jinping received a message from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday, and the latter expressed his deep sympathy and support for all the families who are in mourning. He also wished a speedy recovery to those who are ill in China.

Putin expressed confidence that the radical measures that the Chinese authorities were taking would help stop the spread of the virus and limit damage from it.

Putin also confirmed his readiness to provide assistance to the Chinese and told Xi that the Russian authorities would cooperate as closely as possible with their counterparts in China to ward off this shared threat.

"The message between Putin and Xi shows the close connection between the two countries in the fight against the novel coronavirus under the framework of the Sino-Russian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for a New Era," Zhang said.

It is a tradition for China and Russia to support each other in difficult times, and China appreciated Russia's medical and humanitarian assistance. Zhang said China welcomed the arrival of Russian experts to work with China on novel coronavirus controls and vaccine production.

"China promptly informed the World Health Organization, Russia and many other countries about the latest epidemiological situation, and shared data of this novel coronavirus with the international community," Zhang said.

Anastasia Korobova, a senior researcher on China at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the measures taken by Chinese government were "rapid and with determination" considering the high density of population in big Chinese cities.

Nikolay Malyshev, a senior researcher at the Russian Federal Research Center of Virology and Microbiology, said China had the ability to resolve the novel coronavirus problem, and what it had done was "beyond international requirements".