UN Chief Praises China's Coronavirus Response As Remarkable

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that China's response to curb the novel coronavirus outbreak is "remarkable" while warning stigmatization against China.

"It is clear that there is a massive effort that is made by China in order to contain the disease and avoid its propagation. I think that that effort is remarkable," Guterres told reporters on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

China's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Zhang Jun on Friday expressed his appreciation for U.N. support in China's fight against novel coronavirus. He said that under the oders of President Xi Jinping, China has managed a nationwide mobilization and deployment, quickly responding to the outbreak.

The U.N. also called for strong international cooperation and solidarity on fighting the virus, saying stigma against China due to the virus spread is inappropriate.

"We need to avoid the stigmatization that can sometimes accompany a situation like this, in which all of a sudden, people who have nothing to do with it are stigmatized for any reason," he added.

As of Saturday, over a total of 37,198 cases of the virus were confirmed on the Chinese mainland, with 812 deaths across the globe, according to China's National Health Commission (NHC).

Meanwhile, the second prefab hospital, Wuhan Leishenshan Hospital, began admitting patients on Saturday. The hospital provides 1,600 beds for infected patients at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

The construction of the hospital started on Jan. 27. The first of the two prefab hospitals, Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, completed construction on Feb. 2 and accommodates 1,000 beds.