Expats confident in China's COVID-19 control measures

LANZHOU -- Afghan student Mohammad Shaker Saidkhily and his schoolmates kept a safe distance from each other when they were lining up for nucleic acid testing at a temporary site on the campus of Lanzhou University.

Like many of his schoolmates, Shaker, 28, a postgraduate student at the School of Politics and International Relations of the university in northwest China's Gansu Province, has undergone several rounds of tests after the province reported an epidemic resurgence in October.

"We are not nervous at all. The college has taken strict measures, such as closed-off management, online teaching, mass nucleic acid testing, which are quite efficient," he said.

Shaker has lived in the provincial capital, Lanzhou, for two years. He likes to share experiences about his life in China with his family in Afghanistan.

Strict prevention and control measures have been taken in many parts of the province since the new outbreak.

In Lanzhou, over 1,000 nucleic acid testing sites have been set up to provide around-the-clock service. In the city of Jiayuguan, local health authorities conducted nucleic acid testing for over 330,000 people within 33 hours.

"It mirrors the Chinese government's high efficiency in addressing public health issues, and I can feel the solidarity and cooperation among people both inside and outside the college," said Anthony Que, an American teacher who has been working at the university for more than a year.

Apart from sharing some epidemic prevention knowledge with his students, Que always encourages them to stay positive, believing that Chinese people, united as one, are bound to defeat the epidemic.

Kosterina Evgeniya, a Russian artist who has lived in Lanzhou for 11 years, said she was impressed to see swarms of epidemic prevention staff working tirelessly in communities when COVID-19 broke out.

"China's epidemic prevention and control measures are very effective, and it makes people living in Lanzhou feel safe. I am sure I can take the students out for a sketching session very soon," she said.

In addition to guaranteeing epidemic prevention, the local government has been working hard to bolster production safety.

Stephan Mueller, a sales manager with Netzsch (Lanzhou) Pumps Co., Ltd., a German company producing pumps, has lived in Lanzhou since 2006.

"Regular disinfection is carried out in our company to ensure the smooth operation," said Mueller, adding that workers in his company can work from home when needed.

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, rose 19.6 percent year on year in the first nine months of the year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

"We will actively cooperate with the Chinese government to beef up epidemic control measures, and we are fully confident about the Chinese market," Mueller said, adding that his company is striving to fulfill the orders and meet the needs of its clients.