Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA
An extraordinary meeting of members of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Monday resolved to temporarily
suspend regional face-to-face engagements until the spread of coronavirus has
been contained.
Meeting
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Monday, representatives from Angola,
Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, among others, attended the meeting
in an effort to "share existing knowledge and information" about the
deadly virus, a joint statement issued on Tuesday read.
The
broad strokes of the statement touched on several talking points at the
meeting, including an assessment of the level of preparedness of member states
and to urge members to put in place national preparedness and response plans
"as well as contingency and emergency funds to address gaps in prevention,
impact mitigation and other interventions".
This
as several African countries reported coronavirus cases recently, namely,
Algeria, South Africa, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and
Morocco.
China's ambassador to Tanzania, Wang Ke, also addressed the meeting.
Addressing
the meeting, Wang said the coronavirus had been the "most difficult
epidemic to contain since the founding of the People's Republic of China".
"In the face of the epidemic,
China has been taking the prevention of the overseas spread of the disease as
its important task: We have cancelled all outbound tourist groups, strictly
screened passengers at all exit ports across the country and required all
Chinese citizens going abroad to observe and follow the epidemic control
measures and quarantine themselves for two weeks upon their arrival at the
destination countries," she said.
As countries move with haste to contain the spread of the virus, the
ambassador moved to assure member states that citizens currently residing in
China were being afforded medical attention.
"China attaches great importance to the concerns raised by foreign
governments about the safety of their citizens in China [and] the Chinese
government has been protecting foreign nationals in China as if they were
Chinese citizens."
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan on Tuesday for
his first visit to the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic since the crisis
erupted in January - a major sign that officials believe the outbreak is under
control.
State media showed Xi, wearing a mask, speaking via video link to
frontline medical workers and patients at one of the field hospitals set up in
the city. - Africa
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