On 30 July 2020, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and the Pathfinder Foundation jointly launched the Sinhalese Translation of “Prevention and Control of COVID-19”, a world-known guidebook with detailed practical measures edited by Professor Zhang Wenhong, Head of the Shanghai Medical Treatment Experts Group. In the launching ceremony, Mr. Hu Wei, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy together with Mr. Luxman Siriwardena, former Executive Director of the Pathfinder Foundation, handed over the oven-hot guide books to chief guests Dr. Lakshmi Somatunge, Additional Secretary of Health Ministry and Mrs. Anusha Fernando, Additional Secretary of Education Ministry.
Mr. Luxman Siriwardena thanked the Chinese partners for the free authorization of copyrights on the original book, and extended his confidence on a new height of the friendship and cooperation between the two countries after the pandemic.
Dr. Lakshmi Somatunge highly appraised the long term collaboration between the health departments of Sri Lanka and China, and appreciated the continuous support including medical supplies donation and anti-coronavirus experience sharing provided by the oriental country. The Additional Secretary also appreciated the valuable and practical guidelines with scenario-based strategies provided by the editor of the book. Besides, Mr. Jinith De Silva, acting president of Sri Lanka-China Society, and Mr. Zhang Xiaoqiang, Managing Director of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) also shared with the audience their stories on people-to-people diplomacy and the social responsibility of Chinese enterprises during the pandemic time.
Concluding the ceremony, the Chinese Envoy showed his gratitude to the remarkable efforts of the Pathfinder Foundation team on translation and publication of this book. Highlighting the mutual support and solidarity during the pandemic, Mr. Hu Wei reiterated the commitment from Chinese side to work together with Sri Lanka fighting this dangerous disease, with a new proposal to reprint about 8,000 copies for all the medical workers in the island.
The digital book could be free-downloaded via:
