BEIJING, FEB 14 — Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday in Berlin that virus has no boundaries and the international community should work together to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

“In this battle to safeguard human health, mutual understanding, trust and support across national borders matter the most,” Wang stressed at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.

Since the epidemic broke out, the Chinese government has taken the most comprehensive and strictest measures to control and prevent the disease, said Wang.

He said those efforts have started to pay off as the COVID-19 has been brought under control.

As of Thursday, new cases outside Hubei Province have shown a downward trend for 10 consecutive days, the cure rate has continued to rise and more than 6,000 patients have been discharged from the hospital, Wang added.

“These data and facts show that the epidemic is generally controllable and curable. Especially with the continuous development of effective drugs, we are fully capable and confident of completely overcoming this epidemic,” Wang said.

“China’s efforts have effectively prevented the epidemic from spreading to other countries. So far, the number of infections outside China is less than 1 percent of those within China. China has contributed and sacrificed a lot to global public health,” he added.

Wang admitted that the epidemic had caused some impact on China’s economy, but this impact was temporary, he added.

Wang said he believed that economic momentum would rebound strongly after the epidemic.

“We are confident that we will complete all the indicators for China’s economic and social development this year, build an all-round well-off society, and completely eliminate absolute poverty. The epidemic will not affect Sino-German cooperation. I believe that the increased cooperation between the two sides in health and hygiene will bring new opportunities to German companies,” he said.

Mass said Germany opposes any emotional and discriminatory response against the epidemic, and that Germany will continue to respond objectively and calmly. He added that Germany is willing to continue to provide support and assistance to China.

China and Germany have agreed that the base of bilateral relations is to complement each other’s advantages and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, Wang said.

The agreement was reached at the 5th round of China-Germany strategic dialogue on diplomacy and security co-chaired by Wang and Mass.

The two countries will turn competition into win-win cooperation and always work together in a way in which the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts, Wang said.

Wang praised Germany’s stance on the 5G issue and said the two countries will conduct more cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.