US: Ready to help China deal with Covid-19

The United States is prepared to help China deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases if Beijing requests assistance, the White House said.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told reporters that China has not requested assistance at this stage.

“We have indicated that we are prepared to help in any way they deem acceptable. That was true during the height of the pandemic and it is still true today,” Kirby told reporters.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters earlier in the week that US and Chinese officials had discussed COVID-19 and the countries’ different response to the pandemic, discussed in meetings between the US and China, but without to give more details.

“I want to give us an opportunity to be able to have these discussions in sensitive diplomatic channels and we’ll see what, if anything, comes out of it,” he said.

China Meheco Group Co Ltd said on Wednesday it has signed an agreement with US drugmaker Pfizer Inc to import and distribute the anti-Covid-19 pill Paxlovid in mainland China as the country braces for a surge in infections and de-escalates its “zero tolerance pandemic” policy.

Pfizer already signed a deal in August to make Paxlovid from Chinese drugmaker Zhejiang Huahai to deal with cases in mainland China.

China began to move away from its “zero tolerance for COVID” policy just this month after protests sparked by economic-damaging restrictions pushed by President Xi Jinping. This change spread concerns about the possibility of an increase in cases of the pandemic.

RES-EMP

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