Staff Reporter 

President Hage Geingob at the weekend praised China’s continuous efforts in the fight against Covid-19, while asking the Asian giant’s support to curb the further spread of the deadly virus. 
The head of state said this during a conference call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday. China recently declared victory in its fight against the coronavirus despite claiming over 3 3oo lives, especially in Wuhan city, which was considered the epicentre of the pandemic. 
The Asian country has since reopened its wet food markets, while the rest of the world was imposing national lockdowns to deal with the pandemic that has so far caused over 60 000 deaths globally. 
While Namibia has only 16 confirmed cases, there is growing fear that the continent would struggle to combat the virus given the inadequate healthcare infrastructures, which is combined with limited testing and treatment capability. 
Namibia has already imposed a 21-day lockdown of Khomas and the Erongo regions, 

while strict measures have also been introduced to help combat the virus. During the phone call with Xi, Geingob thanked the Chinese leader for waging an effective fight against the pandemic. “Drawing on the experiences gained by China in containing Covid-19, and as witnessed in the commendable international assistance given by China to countries such as Italy, Namibia trusts that China and Africa will intensify cooperation in containing Covid-19 on the African continent,” said Geingob. “Namibia has started to register several cases of coronavirus infections, and as a small developing country it does not have the capacity to contain a full-scale pandemic. We therefore will appreciate China’s immediate and comprehensive support in technical know-how, technology, equipment and materials and expert advice to stop this pandemic. In this regard, Namibia is deeply grateful to extraordinary Chinese citizens such as Jack Ma, the owner of the Alibaba Group who have generously donated great quantities of coronavirus preventative basic materials to Namibia and all African countries to contain Covid-19.” Geingob added Namibia would also like to draw lessons from China on how to tackle abject poverty through closer cooperation and support. “In this context, the Namibian economy has been severely affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus, which threatens our socio-economic stability, and the gains we have made to reverse poverty. Hence, substantial investments, increased grants and favourable loan assistance from our all-weather friend China will be crucial and most welcome to complement our ongoing internal efforts, to help revive the growth of our economy and save expected massive employment losses,” said Geingob. Xi, on the other hand, pledged continued support for the Covid-19 battle in Namibia and other parts of the continent.  “I am very concerned about the current epidemic situation in Africa. China overcomes difficulties, actively provides anti-epidemic aid to the African Union and African countries, organises expert video conferences to exchange experiences, and Chinese companies and non-governmental organisations have also reached out to African countries. These are true portrayals of China- Africa community with a shared future. China will continue to increase efforts to provide anti-epidemic assistance to Namibia and other African countries, share experience in epidemic prevention and control, strengthen cooperation in the field of health, and work together to achieve the ultimate victory in the epidemic,” said Xi.