Egypt's Minister of Health Hala Zayed Photo: Li Hao/GT

 China will provide Egypt with 1,000 COVID-19 detection kits and technical documents for precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus pneumonia, said Egypt's Minister of Health Hala Zayed in Beijing on Monday, when she paid a visit to the Chinese capital gifting 1 million medical masks. 

"The masks are our gift to our friends in China, it's not a donation," Zayed told the Global Times, noting that due to the exchanges of data between countries and the WHO, China and the world will overcome this challenge soon. 

Carrying a message of solidarity from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to China, Zayed met with Chen Zhu, a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Chen thanked Zayed for coming to China to express her condolences and support, saying that China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Egypt to prevent and control the epidemic, and jointly to safeguard the lives and health of the people and the public health of the two countries, reported the Xinhua News Agency on Monday. 

Zayed said that the epidemic situation could have been worse without the steps taken by China early on in the outbreak.

"The Chinese government is taking very serious steps to overcome the virus. Because of the strict measures in China, China and also the world are safe," she said. 

Three famous historical sites in Egypt - the Saladin Citadel in Cairo, the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor and the Philae Temple Complex in Aswan - are lit up in red and golden stars to resemble the national flag of China, as a sign of solidarity in combating the novel coronavirus, reports said.

Egypt confirmed its second case of the coronavirus on Sunday, with the first case already recovered and ending quarantine. 

She noted that the sixth edition of China's epidemic guidebook, along with the guidance from the WHO, will help Egypt combat a potential outbreak.

"We have very good public regulations. We can control it and we have support from the WHO and from our friends in all countries," Zayed said.