Chinese medical team pose for a group photo with medics working at the Pavia hospital in Pavia, Italy, March 21, 2020. The Chinese medical team in Italy left from Padova to Pavia on Friday and Saturday to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak there. (Xinhua)
ROME, March 22 (Xinhua) -- "In May 2008, I had the opportunity to be in China, in Chengdu after the earthquake that hit the Sichuan Province. I was there to lead a team of experts sent from EU and Italy to support China after the earthquake," said Luigi D'Angelo, director of the Emergency Office of the Italian Civil Protection Department.
"Now I'm here in Italy, in Rome, engaged in the emergency management due to the coronavirus and I have the pleasure and opportunity to receive support and help from Chinese colleagues. They came to Italy to help us, (to help) our doctors and nurses to face this terrible emergency," D'Angelo told Xinhua.
As a member of the first Chinese medical team to arrived in Rome last week, Tang Menglin, a Chinese medical expert from Sichuan Province, had much the same feelings as D'Angelo.
"As a Sichuan local, I'm fortunate to be here to repay Italians' kindness," said Tang.
A popular cartoon drawn by an Italian girl recently impressed her a lot. In the picture, two medical staff from Italy and China worked together to protect the boot-shaped country from falling down.
The nine-member Chinese medical team also brought tons of medical supplies from China, including ventilators, monitors, defibrillators and 30 sets of ICU equipment.
The Chinese medical team, organized by the National Health Commission and the Red Cross Society of China, aims to offer medical supplies, share China's experience, and help Italy build confidence in epidemic prevention and control.
"We have spent a lot of time sharing epidemic prevention and control measures, and strengthening people's confidence in home quarantine," said Sun Shuopeng, head of the team and vice president of the Red Cross Society of China.
The joint efforts are producing effects. "Compared with the situation when we came to Rome, there are fewer and fewer people on the streets now," said Sun.
"We also helped the hotel where we stayed set up a preventive and control system. The hotel isolates and measures the body temperature of every guest and includes disinfection in its daily operation. By the time we left, the hotel had become a standardized unit for epidemic prevention and control," said the Chinese team leader.
The Chinese doctors had intensive and extensive communication with their Italian counterparts and their efforts paid off. "I think Italy is moving towards a more institutionalized pattern for epidemic prevention and control. And it is a hard-won trend," said Sun.
To help a large number of overseas Chinese, including employees of Chinese-funded enterprises, Chinese students and stranded travelers in Italy, the expert team expound on the symptoms, prevention methods and treatment of COVID-19 via a livestream at the Chinese embassy on Sunda, which attracted nearly 700,000 viewers.
"Tensions and anxieties are very common," said Yang Huichuan, a doctor on the Chinese medical team. "I spoke with a Chinese student who was anxious about the spread of the disease in Italy. We encouraged him to overcome panic and protect himself through effective means."
"Once home quarantine becomes more organized, early detection and reporting mechanisms are in place, and hospital capacity and treatment system are improved, overseas Chinese will feel safer," said Sun.
After staying in Rome for several days, the first expert team headed north to Padova on Tuesday to help local medical staff.
The second batch of the Chinese medical team arrived in Milan on Wednesday with 9 tons of medical materials in a continued effort to fight alongside Italian medics against the pandemic.
As Yang wrote in his diary, when he first entered his hotel room in Rome, there was a note in Chinese, English and Italian on his desk that read "We stand together, we fight together, we win together."
