Politicians, experts call for global cooperation against coronavirus pandemic

Airport employees wearing full body protective suits sort and register incoming Chinese nationals returning from overseas at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. China announced it will block almost all foreigners from entering the country starting today, a recognition that most new coronavirus cases were coming from overseas now that the government slowed the spread of the disease among its own people. - Bloomberg

BEIJING/ NEW YORK/WASHINGTON/BEIJING: As the world is plagued with a spiral of Covid-19 (coronavirus) infections, politicians and experts call for global solidarity and cooperation against the pandemic.

"Covid-19 should be a wake-up call about the cooperation that will be needed to ensure that any future pandemic -- particularly one that is even more lethal than the coronavirus -- can be dealt with most effectively by the international community," Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation and former US ambassador to Cambodia, told Xinhua in a recent interview.