JAKARTA - January 2020 was a tough start for China. The mysterious novel corona virus infects residents. It all started from Wuhan, Hubei Province. The government was forced to carry out quarantine until it decided to lock down Wuhan in order to reduce the spread of the virus which at that time had infected hundreds of residents.
The mysterious disease, now called COVID-19, broke out to coincide with the new year holidays, during which many Chinese citizens went on vacation, including abroad. The Chinese government did not have the chance to prohibit its citizens who had already traveled. The most dreaded thing happened; the virus is not only endemic in China.
Launching Al Jazeera, Thursday, March 19, 2020, on January 13, WHO reported the first cases of COVID-19 outside China, namely in Thailand. The first person with COVID-19 in Thailand was a woman who came from Wuhan.
Three days later, January 16 to be precise, the Japanese Ministry of Health reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in a man who had visited Wuhan. A day later, there were reports that for the first time a Wuhan resident had died from COVID-19.
China is not completely ignorant of the signs of the emergence of the virus. A doctor named Li Wenliang said there was a virus similar to SARS and was expected to become an epidemic. Apart from that, he also said the local government was incompetent in the early stages of the outbreak.
But instead of responding, the authorities forced doctor Li Wenliang to sign a letter on January 3 saying that he "seriously disturbed social order" and was threatened with criminal charges. Most sadly, doctor Li Wenliang died from the virus.
The death of this doctor saddened many parties, especially since the death toll from COVID-19 at that time touched more than 600 people. The real hero, must die due to the ego of the government. The virus spreads so fast, that it finally spread to the continents of Europe, Africa and America.
WHO also raised the status of COVID-19 as a pandemic. The top three countries outside China that have seen the worst spike in the outbreak are Italy, Iran and Spain. Monitoring from gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com, COVID-19 cases in Italy reached 35,713 cases, with 2,978 people killed and 4,025 successfully cured.
Meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 in Spain have increased dramatically. The country of Matador followed South Korea, with 14,769 confirmed cases, 638 people died, and 1,081 managed to recover.
A heroic story
As the COVID-19 outbreak spreads and countries around the world struggle to deal with it, China is feeling the opposite. China positions itself as a generous leader in public health.
The Chinese are building power in a gentle way and it is necessary at the same time that they are intensifying their competition with the US and their scrutiny of Chinese influence around the world. In recent weeks, China has donated test kits to Cambodia.
Not only Cambodia, China also sent ventilators, masks and medical personnel to Italy and France, sending medical personnel to Iran and Iraq. China also promised to help other countries such as the Philippines and Spain.
Last week, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio posted a video on Facebook of him supervising a supply plane and medical personnel from China. Di Maio said China was the first country to send aid.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also expressed his praise. At a conference he said he believed in "his brother and friend Xi Jinping".
"The only country that can help us is China," said Vučić, quoted by The Guardian.
Apart from that, China is also sending test kits, ventilators and other medical equipment to Pakistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said China had also promised to provide cash assistance to Pakistan. The money will be used to set up an isolation center.
Not only in the form of goods, China also provided moral assistance. Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed words of consolation to Spanish Prime Minister (PM) Pedro Sánchez, that "sunshine will come after the storm", adding that China and Spain should increase cooperation after the outbreak.
The fact that China is the source of the plague because of the government's ignorance of Li Wenliang's warning cannot possibly be erased from this great catastrophe. China today is like doing penance. The rise of China probably deserves thumbs up. However, this cannot be fully appreciated because now other countries are struggling to deal with COVID-19 because of China's ignorance.
Like one netizen's comment that we accidentally found;
The water pipe in your house breaks and you flood other people's homes. Will it be the golden age you hope for?
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