A group of Chinese experts arrive in Iran to help combat the novel coronavirus in the country, Feb 29, 2020. (Photo: chineseembassy.org)

An international seminar on fighting COVID-19 was held online on Friday, with public health experts and officials from 17 countries participating.

The seminar was hosted by the Silk Road Cities Alliance, Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.

Song Ronghua, initiator of the Silk Road Cities Alliance, said he hopes people exchange solutions on combating COVID-19 for the reference of other cities and share resources that can support global control of the pandemic.

Yerik Ashimov, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said member states have been united and strengthened collaboration to overcome the impact of COVID-19 on societies and economies, and he was positive of further cooperation between the alliance and the organization.

Zhu Tongyu, director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, said early tracking and quarantining of close contacts of COVID-19 patients was the key to Shanghai's success in preventing the spread of the virus in this megapolis, and the center is willing to cooperate with cities along the Silk Road in public health management.

A website (www.ghlink.cn) for Global Health Link, which is a project to facilitate the flow of medical supplies across the world, was launched during the seminar.