The Chinese ambassador to Ireland He Xiangdong has said that the authorities in Ireland need to make a quick and reasonable decision on mass gatherings arising out of the threat of the coronavirus.
Speaking at a reception in the lord mayor’s office in Cork, the ambassador declined to definitively say whether events such as St Patrick’s Day parades should be cancelled. However, he urged that speedy decisions should be made on all mass gatherings.
“The authorities here in Ireland need to take the very smart and quick and cautious, while at the same time reasonable decision in terms of that [mass gatherings]. Our own experience is that [at] the early stage we needed to make some hard decisions in terms of if the mass gatherings needed to be held or not.”
Mr Xiandong, who attended university in Wuhan 30 years ago, said that his message to the people of Ireland was that the coronavirus “knows no borders”.
“It is a challenge not only for China, not only for Italy, not only for Korea or Japan. It is a challenge for the whole world. It is a time for solidarity. It is a time not for rumours.
“There has been sound co-operation between the Irish side and the China side. We have exchanged a lot of information between us.
“It [the coronavirus] can be beaten. If you look back at the history, there have been a lot of cases similar to this one. Especially 17 years ago when the Sars broke out. We have full confidence that in the end in the near future we will succeed [in beating the disease].”
He acknowledged the unfortunate consequences to the Irish and Chinese economy as a result of coronavirus but said that he hoped it would be “short term.”
He said the people of Wuhan were sacrificing a lot by remaining in lockdown and were “united together to fight against the coronavirus.”
He added that he had heard of an area in China where cases of coronavirus had occurred because of flights that had originated from other countries.
“We are seeing new cases [in China] from people coming from abroad. In my home province the day before yesterday they had seven new confirmed cases all of them from Northern Italy.”
Mr Xiangdong rejected suggestions made by a reporter that China had not acted quickly enough to contain the disease.
“Scientists in China are working around the clock to find the solution to the disease including to find a vaccine. There is encouraging news. To find a vaccine takes time.”