By Countercurrents Collective
China and Cuba have stepped in with practical measures at international level amidst the near-collapse health care situation in a number of capitalist countries in the face of coronavirus pandemic.
China sending million masks & gloves to France
China is shipping one million surgical masks and gloves to France as the EU member struggles to contain the coronavirus, with Europe becoming the new focal point of the global pandemic.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed the shipments on Wednesday in an interview with France’s BFM TV.
The first of two planes has already arrived via Belgium and a second will arrive on Thursday, he said.
China’s gesture comes after France sent 17 tonnes of equipment to Beijing when the Covid-19 virus first broke out in Wuhan last December.
France reported 89 new deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, updating the total to 264. The number of confirmed cases has also risen to 9,134 – up from 7,730 on Tuesday – health agency director Jerome Salomon said.
China’s medical team and equipment in Italy
Last week, China shipped a planeload of medical supplies including respirators and masks to Italy, which has suffered more than any other European country so far, and has seen hospitals overloaded with the rapidly increasing numbers of cases.
Along with the 30 tons of equipment, China also sent nine of its medical staff to Italy to help in its battle against the disease.
Italian Red Cross head Francesco Rocca said the country was in “desperate need” of the masks and was grateful for the donation in a moment of “great difficulty.”
“Today, Italy is not alone,” said Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. “Many people in the world are supporting us.”
It is the third team of experts deployed by the Chinese authorities.
EU is not helping
Earlier reports said:
Italy requested the EU and EU member-countries to send medical equipments to fight coronavirus. But the EU and its member-countries declined to help citing the reason that they do not want to deplete their stocks.
Earlier this week, Italy’s permanent representative to the EU, Maurizio Massari, complained that Italy’s plea for medical help to combat the coronavirus outbreak crippling the country had gone unanswered.
Massari noted that while the EU had ignored Italian requests for aid, China had begun helping bilaterally.
“Italy, the European country struck hardest by the coronavirus, has done everything it can to contain and manage the epidemic,” he said.
The Italian minister said: “We must ensure, under EU co-ordination, the supply of the necessary medical equipment and its redistribution among those countries and regions most in need. Today, this means Italy; tomorrow, the need could be elsewhere.
“Italy has already asked to activate the European Union Mechanism of Civil Protection for the supply of medical equipment for individual protection.
“But, unfortunately, not a single EU country responded to the commission’s call. Only China responded bilaterally. Certainly, this is not a good sign of European solidarity.”
China sends masks to Serbia
Caught off guard by the EU’s ban on medical exports, Serbia found help in China as it struggled to prepare for the Covid-19 outbreak, the Serbian president said, adding that it has become clear that European solidarity is a myth.
Serbia is the latest country to impose severe restrictions on travel and public gatherings in response to the global epidemic.
As President Aleksandar Vucic declared a national emergency on Sunday, he had some scalding remarks for the EU.
The crisis has proven that European solidarity, only exists “on paper,” Vucic said, citing the ban on the export of medical equipment and supplies imposed by EU members to non-EU countries in response to the outbreak.
“Only China can help us in this situation”, the Serbian leader added, saying he recently wrote a letter to China’s President Xi Jinping “asking him for help and calling him a brother.”
Serbia received five million masks from China that it couldn’t get in Europe and an offer to send doctors to help tackle the disease, the president said.
“I say to foreigners: don’t come to Serbia, except for the Chinese who are called upon to come, their doctors, the people who help us,” Vucic said.
According to official sources, the country had to shop for respirators on a “semi gray market.”
Starting Monday, Serbia has shut down all teaching facilities, mobilized the military to guard sensitive sites such as hospitals, and closed the borders to everyone apart from citizens.
Serbs will have to remain in quarantine after coming back or face prison terms of up to three years.
As of Monday, there are 55 confirmed coronavirus cases in Serbia, which has a population of seven million. Two of the patients are in serious condition. The virus has also reached other Balkan nations with the exception of Montenegro.
The health crisis has put EU cohesion to the test.
Spain Iran Iraq
China has already sent medical missions and shipments of supplies to Spain, Iraq and Iran.
Beijing has been praised by the World Health Organisation for its efforts against the coronavirus. Authorities responded to the outbreak by building new hospitals in a matter of days and locking down Hubei province, which has a population of 58 million, to contain the spread of the disease.
To the U.S.
In addition to the government help, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma sent a shipment of surgical masks and Covid-19 test kits to the U.S., which has its own shortage of kits.
Africa
Ma said Monday he would also donate masks and test kits to all countries in Africa.
Despite its efforts to step up and aid other hard-hit countries, China has faced a barrage of negative media coverage in the West, with Trump administration officials repeatedly referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” and the “Wuhan virus” given the fact that it originated there in December.
Cuba’s medical team to Italy
Socialist country Cuba has already sent medical team to Italy to help the EU-member fight coronavirus.
Cuba’s team to Venezuela
A specialized Cuban technical delegation traveled to Venezuela March 15 to support the country’s Covid-19 containment strategy.
Cuba’s medicine to China to fight coronavirus
Among the thirty medicines the Chinese National Health Commission selected to fight the coronavirus is a Cuban anti-viral drug, Interferon Alpha 2b. This drug has been produced in China since 2003, by the enterprise ChangHeber, a Cuban-Chinese joint venture.
Cuban Interferon Alpha 2b has proven effective for viruses with characteristics similar to those of coronavirus, officially named COVID-19.
Cuban biotech specialist Dr. Luis Herrera Martinez explained, “its use prevents aggravation and complications in patients, reaching that stage that ultimately can result in death.”
Cuba first developed and used interferons to arrest a deadly outbreak of the dengue virus in 1981, and the experience catalyzed the development of the island’s now world-leading biotech industry.
In 1981, the Biological Front, a professional interdisciplinary forum, was set up to develop the industry in Cuba. While most developing countries had little access to the new technologies (recombinant DNA, human gene therapy, biosafety), Cuban biotechnology expanded and took on an increasingly strategic role in both the public health sector and the national economic development plan. It did so despite the U.S. blockade obstructing access to technologies, equipment, materials, finance, and even knowledge exchange. Driven by public health demand, it has been characterized by the fast track from research and innovation to trials and application, as the story of Cuban interferon shows.
Interferons are “signaling” proteins produced and released by cells in response to infections that alert nearby cells to heighten their anti-viral defenses.
Countries ask Cuba to send medicine
The Cuban medication Interferon Alpha 2B has been requested by more than ten countries.
Coronavirus-hit cruise ship docks in Cuba for passengers to evacuate
A British cruise ship that has been stranded for more than a week in the Caribbean after several cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed onboard is set to dock in Cuba on Wednesday to allow weary passengers to disembark and fly home.
Britain’s Foreign Minister Dominic Raab expressed gratitude on Tuesday in parliament to Communist-run Cuba for offering a safe haven to the Braemar, which has more than 1,000 mainly British passengers and crew aboard after several Caribbean ports refused to let it dock.
“Prevention and contention of new coronavirus require the efforts of entire international community,” said Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez. “Let’s reinforce health care, solidarity and international cooperation.”
Passengers would return to Britain from the capital’s international airport in the evening on four charter flights including a separate one for passengers who had received a positive diagnosis for coronavirus or displayed any flu-like symptoms.
Any not considered well enough to fly would be offered support and medical treatment in Cuba.
The ship was refused docking in Barbados and the Bahamas, which are both part of the British Commonwealth – an irony not lost on some passengers.
“We should all remember what #Cuba has done for us, stepping in when none of the British Commonwealth countries and protectorates in the region offered any help,” tweeted one passenger aboard the Braemar, Steve Dale.
Cuban authorities are screening travelers at airports and have stepped up the production of facemasks while banning large cultural events. Family physicians are paying more home visits to monitor local communities.
Yet the government has not canceled flights from countries hardest hit by the pandemic, restricted internal movement or banned social gatherings, in contrast to other countries in the region, eliciting concern among some Cubans, as has the arrival of the Braemar.
A March 18, 2020 datelined Granma report, headlined “A safe port amidst adversity” said:
The humanitarian and altruistic dimensions of the events could make them stuff of a movie scene. The crew of the MS Braemar, owned by the British Fred Olsen cruise line, spent several days sailing the Caribbean with passengers aboard suffering coronavirus infections.
Despite diplomatic efforts by the UK government, the ship was refused entry to several ports in the region. But there was nothing fictional about the urgent situation of passengers, including the sick whose lives were endangered, with the rest facing possible infection, in the middle of the ocean.
Cuba said yes, and offered a safe port in the midst of adversity, with modesty, not seeking headlines in the media, for absolutely nothing in return. Such a decision perhaps generated incomprehension on the part of some, those who are unaware of the value of a helping hand during a catastrophe.
But, for most Cubans, the opportunity to help fills us with patriotic pride, with the emotion only understandable by women and men of good will in all latitudes. Because in “times of coronavirus,” the words “help, cooperate, work together” should be the norm, across the planet. Because human civilization should understand, once and for all, that only together can we overcome common challenges and tragedies.
Cuba, true to its principles, could not act otherwise, nor is this the first time we have done so. Solidarity is in the genes of the Cuban people. It is part of our unique identity and has written memorable chapters in our history.
Perhaps for these reasons, in the time of Covid-19, the eyes of the world look hopefully to Cuba, and our people, who despite hardships and a fierce blockade, did not hesitate to respond.
Requests for support have arrived from various parts of the world.
Meanwhile, others are sending thousands of military personnel to Europe to conduct the most extensive maneuvers since the Cold War, while leading an insulting campaign against Cuban medical collaboration around the world. Cuba’s response? An army of white coats at the service of the dispossessed: more than 400,000 health professionals who, over 56 years, have carried out missions in 164 nations.
Women and men from this Caribbean island have faced Ebola in Africa, blindness in Latin America and the Caribbean with Operation Miracle, and cholera in Haiti. Twenty-six Cuban brigades from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disasters and Major Epidemics – recognized with the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Public Health Award, granted by the Executive Council of the World Health Organization – helped during difficult times in Pakistan, Indonesia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Venezuela, among others.
In fact, this event is nothing like a film. It is an expression of solidarity from the Cuban people, who understand health as a human right, help any way we can and share what we have, with those who need it most in difficult times.
Martí said: “Cuba does not go around the world begging. She goes as a sister and works with authority as such. By saving herself, she saves.” Then and now, and into the future.
19 March 2020
Source: countercurrents.org