China, Russia tackle health crisis together

The doctors also offered their Russian counterparts their opinions on the action taken to fight the virus in Moscow, including the quarantine policy, the standard adopted for hospital admissions, as well as traffic control regulations.

Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said after meeting the Chinese medical team members, "Their experience is valuable to Russia."

He said Moscow had learned from the experience in Wuhan how to tackle and deal with the pandemic, as the Chinese city had successfully contained the virus.

Zhang, the ambassador, said the medical experts had helped ease the anxieties of 150,000 Chinese who have had to remain in Russia during the outbreak.

He added that after virus emerged in China, Putin was the first head of state of a major country to send a message of condolence to President Xi Jinping, on March 19.

The Russian leader has also spoken highly on many occasions of the decisive pandemic prevention and control measures taken by China.

In a phone call on April 16, the two presidents reaffirmed their mutual support for the fight against COVID-19 and rejected any attempts to politicize the pandemic. They agreed to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various areas, including COVID-19 containment, and the enhancement of bilateral communication and collaboration with organizations such as the United Nations.

Zhang said Russia values bilateral cooperation with China during the pandemic highly, as well as the humanitarian aid and professional medical advice it has received from its neighbor.