To negotiate a response to China’s escalating COVID-19 situation, Beijing and Canberra met.
Speaking on behalf of the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that China and Australia had recently held a number of talks to discuss “response cooperation” for COVID-19.
The meeting had not been previously made public.
“In addition, during the past few days, the relevant Chinese authorities met with the EU and Australia on a number of bilateral occasions to exchange views on COVID-related matters and advance response cooperation,” added Mr. Wang.
On Friday, the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care announced a meeting for January 11.
According to them, on January 11, 2022, representatives from the Departments of Health and Aged Care, Foreign Affairs, and Trade met virtually with China’s National Health Commission and China CDC.
“The conversation gave us a chance to discuss clinical treatment strategies and share information on our own COVID-19 circumstances. Both nations acknowledged the value of constant contact and information exchange.
We anticipate more opportunities to talk with China about the COVID situation and our respective approaches.
Mr. Wang claimed the government had been exchanging information and data with the international world in a “open” manner in an effort to deflect criticism for the lack of transparency surrounding China’s most recent COVID-19 outbreak.
At the earliest chance, “We reported the spread of the virus to the WHO,” he stated.
“We revealed the virus’ genome and shared China’s techniques for diagnosis, treatment, and containment with the world right away.
“Those initiatives made a significant contribution to global research and development on vaccines and medications. The WHO and I have been in close contact.
In order to put pressure on China to give a more rapid supply of data about illnesses and deaths, Australia’s Health Minister Mark Butler established an obligatory COVID-19 testing requirement for travelers from China.
The identical demand has also been made by South Korea and Japan, setting in a diplomatic standoff between the nations.
China retaliated by ceasing to grant short-term visas to the two countries, but has not yet done so for Australia.
Even though they themselves had the same procedures in place, the Chinese government called the testing requirements “discriminatory entry restrictions.”
After easing its zero-Covid position in the aftermath of an extraordinary surge in demonstrations against the program, China has been hit by a new wave of COVID-19 infections.
A reliable count of those infected with the virus in the nation is now unavailable due to China’s National Health Commission’s decision to suspend daily reporting in December.
In spite of China’s assertions to the contrary, WHO has maintained that the number of deaths caused by the virus is “heavily underreported.”
The health organization has urged China to emulate the United States, which is experiencing an Omicron sub-variant outbreak, and offer more information over their COVID-19 patients.
We also reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs for response.
