by Yosley Carrero

HAVANA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Cuban doctor Jorge Luis Quinones said his life changed 47 days ago when he left his home country to work in a hospital tent in Lombardy, the epicenter of a COVID-19 outbreak in Italy.

As a member of the Cuban Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, his main task was to provide medical treatment to patients infected with COVID-19.

Quinones, 43, got up before the sun rose in Lombardy. He worked around the clock, running clinical tests, giving medicine to patients, and assisting them during rehabilitation sessions.

On March 12, China sent out a team of medical experts to Italy to help with their fight against COVID-19, which came in the nick of time with tons of medical supplies including ventilators, monitors and defibrillators.

The second team of 13 Chinese medical experts took a flight to Italy on March 18 and worked with their Italian counterparts in the Lombardy region for 15 days helping with the prevention and control of COVID-19. A week later, a team of 14 medical experts from eastern China's Fujian Province departed to Italy to aid the European country's fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.

"China has contributed to sharing scientific knowledge on COVID-19 worldwide," Quinones said in an email to Xinhua. "Chinese scientists are highly qualified and have not hesitated to collaborate with colleagues from all around the world."

Quinones, who was on the scene following the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and during the outbreaks of cholera in Haiti and Ebola in West Africa, said that global solidarity is needed to address the COVID-19 crisis.

According to the Cuban doctor, social distancing measures taken by China have been so effective that it has become a "global epidemiological reference."

Quinones said that Cuba has followed the Chinese protocols to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Speaking of Washington's accusations against Beijing by suggesting that China has concealed sensitive data on the virus, Quinones said that governments and institutions should "work together in seeking a cure for COVID-19, despite political differences" and stop blaming others for their own failures.

Despite decades of the U.S. blockade, Cuba has trained doctors and nurses to be highly qualified to deal with epidemics, he said.

Quinones added that Cuban medical teams have saved hundreds of lives in Italy in a "battle against a disease that will only be defeated if the entire world stays united."