Photo from: Chinese Embassy in Italy

 
Chinese medical team sent to Italy to aid battling the COVID19 pandemic started their work immediately after arriving in Rome. This true act of friendship has deeply touched the Italian people, who expressed their gratitude on social media platforms. Some felt remorseful for previous acts of discrimination against Asian people.

The 9-member team from China, bringing 31 tons of medical supplies, held a two-hour press conference with the Italian Red Cross, which was also attended by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Friday afternoon local time, the Italian news agency Adnkronos reported.

According to media report, the Chinese medical team will visit the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome to exchange information and experiences in controlling the epidemic. They will later visit Padua and Milan, where the epidemic situation is more severe.

A separate 26.4 tons of coronavirus prevention equipment sent from Eastern China’s Zhejiang Province arrived in Italy on Friday.

Photo from: Chinese Embassy in Italy

 
By Friday, 17,660 infection cases of novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Italy with the death toll rising quickly to 1,266. 

The medical team dispatched to Italy is sent from Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

The Chinese Embassy in Italy on Friday posted photos of an Italian medical team aiding Sichuan in 2008 after the Wenchuan earthquake that killed more than 69,000. “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” the post read in Italian.

The post received more than 22,000 likes and 6,000 reposts, with most people praising the friendship between China and Italy.

In 2008, 14 Italian emergency rescue experts helped save more than 900 people trapped in Mianyang, Sichuan. Preceding this, the Sichuan Emergency Center was also founded with Italy’s aid in 1988.

China’s emergency aid has touched many people in Italy, who rushed onto social media platforms to express their appreciation.

Photo from: Chinese Embassy in Italy

 
“Now we really understand who are our real friends and who are the fakes ones that only aim for their own interests,” Nadia Cutrupi, a Bologna resident, posted on her Facebook account, together with a picture of two hands shaking, painted with Chinese and Italian national flags.

Various Facebook users from Italy changed their cover pictures on their accounts to similar images showing support for the friendship between China and Italy. 

Claudio, a resident from Parma in northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region flooded his twitter account with support regarding China dispatching a medical team to aid Italy’s viral prevention efforts, and he told the Global Times that he expresses gratitude for China’s help, “and all of you [China] are giving to us in this difficult moment, I hope your warmth and assistance be remembered for a long time by all of us, and bind our two peoples together with a deep friendship.”

Anna from Naples in southern Italy has also been touched by China’s generosity. She said that “We know that China helps Italy a lot, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Anna said she paid little attention to news from China in the past, but now she is closely following many Chinese mainstream news outlets, to educate herself regarding advice put up by Chinese doctors in battling the virus.

“There are those who insulted or beat people who ‘looked Chinese’, blaming them for spreading the virus, now there are Chinese people coming here, sharing their expertise, risking their lives and showing us an example of solidarity,” Gabriele Ravaioli, a resident from Bologna, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Previously, incidents of discrimination against Asian people was reported in Italy when the epidemic was plaguing China.