Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Friday with US President Donald Trump on the novel coronavirus outbreak and urged Washington to respond “reasonably” to the epidemic, state media reported.
Xi told Trump on the phone that China was “fully confident and capable of defeating the epidemic”, and that “the long-term trend of China’s economic development for the better will not change”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The viral outbreak, which is believed to have originated in central China late last year, has now infected at least 31,000 people and caused 636 deaths, mostly within China.
Xi called the fight to contain the virus a “people’s war” and told Trump that China has implemented “nationwide mobilisation, comprehensive deployment and rapid response” along with “the strictest prevention and control measures” against the virus.
Xi also urged the US to act “reasonably” in response to the outbreak, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Beijing has hit out against strict measures by other countries to contain the spread of the virus, calling travel bans against Chinese arrivals by a growing list of nations “unkind” and going against the advice of the World Health Organization.