China-Brazil anti-COVID-19 cooperation not weakened by distance

LANZHOU, May 26 (Xinhua) -- It has been almost six months since Zhou Qiang returned to Gansu from Brazil, yet every time he sees a rise in Brazil's COVID-19 infection data, he worries for his friends and hopes traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can be of some help there.

Gansu Province is a major TCM production base in northwest China and boasts a long history of growing TCM herbs, while Brazil has the world's leading botanical resources. TCM, Brazilian medicine and other Western medicines have long provided excellent medical services to the public in Brazil.

In September 2019, the China-Brazil International Cooperation Base of Chinese Medicine Products was established in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The base offers Brazilian medical workers a chance to study TCM while providing related treatments for local residents.

Zhou served as the director of the base, working with three other colleagues from the Affiliated Hospital of the Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, which led the base's operations.

After arriving in Sao Paulo, Zhou and his colleagues began their intense work of providing medical services such as massage and acupuncture. These TCM techniques have relieved local patients' ailments and earned the experts a good reputation.

In February 2020, the pandemic began to rage in Brazil. The city of Sao Paulo, the country's COVID-19 epicenter, has a severe shortage of face masks and protective clothing, and other medical resources are in short supply. Many patients with mild coughing symptoms have actively sought help from Chinese doctors.

In order to reduce the risk of infection, Zhou and his colleagues treated patients through a "cloud-based clinic." They matched existing Chinese medicines with select tea recipes and offered them to patients via express delivery to improve their immunity. They also provided patients with psychological guidance and videos on COVID-19 prevention to alleviate their fears.

Via "cloud teaching," Zhou's team treated more than 3,000 patients and trained more than 400 local physicians. Even after returning to China in late 2020, he continues to provide consultation services for his Brazilian friends through social networking software.

"We forged a deep friendship, and I hope we can do something for them," he said, adding that their efforts were just a small part of Sino-Brazilian cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

Zhang Baojun, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Gansu Province, said that Gansu last April donated 16,000 surgical masks, 1,500 pairs of latex gloves and 100 goggles to its sister city Goias in Brazil.

Cooperation has also been carried out on the national level. On Nov. 26, 2020, China's National Medical Products Administration and Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency signed a memorandum of understanding and a cooperation plan on jointly strengthening information exchange in the drug, medical devices and cosmetics supervision fields, protecting people's health in both countries.

Chinese vaccines have been playing a significant role in Brazil's anti-COVID-19 fight. The Brazilian town of Serrana, which was hit particularly hard by the first wave of infections in Brazil, used the CoronaVac vaccines developed by China's Sinovac Biotech to achieve herd immunity. Approximately 97.7 percent of its adult residents have been vaccinated.

Chinese companies have also cooperated with the Sao Paulo-based Butantan Institute, a state-run medical research facility, to directly export raw materials for the production of the vaccine in Brazil.

Brazil has reported over 16.1 million COVID-19 cases, the country's health ministry said.

"As ordinary healthcare workers, we hope to share our anti-pandemic measures with the Brazilian people to help them get through the difficulties," said Zhou.