Bahrain praises China's massive and enlightened response to combat the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic, Bahrain's ambassador to China said in a letter hailing the endeavor of the Chinese government and its health community.

The Chinese government has responded rapidly and transparently to this unpredictable and tragic epidemic, demonstrating its strong public health capacities and resources to respond to and manage disease outbreaks, Ambassador Dr. Anwar Alabdulla said.

"The coronavirus is common in many species of animals but rare in human beings, making such outbreaks unpredictable, and thus the decisive response of China is even more praiseworthy."

We laud the leadership and resolute action of the Chinese health authorities in being the first to post the full genome of the 2019-nCoV in the genetic sequence databases of the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data and the U.S.'s GenBank, he said, adding this action has greatly accelerated the detection and containment efforts on this virus.

"In parallel, collaboration with the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, many national and international health organizations and, of course, the Wuhan people, on effective containment measures and studies of the behavior, severity and transmission of the virus is a huge undertaking that will prove to be decisive in this battle," the letter read.

The ambassador strongly endorses the sentiments of the director general of the WHO in praising the leadership and huge commitment of the Chinese government and people, while reinforcing that China "needs the world's solidarity and support."

"The WHO reassures us all that 'the world is pulling together to end the outbreak, building on lessons learned from past outbreaks,'" he added

Bahrain pledges its support and assistance to overcome the tragic epidemic, said Alabdulla.

The Philippines also expressed support for China.

Martin Andanar, secretary of the Philippine Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), said in an interview with CCTV that his country will stand with China and pray for China. "Because the virus knows no borders, it can infect Chinese, Singaporeans, Filipinos, Malaysians, even Europeans and Americans," he added.

"We appeal to the public to remain calm, level-headed, and compassionate, as we all work towards dealing with and containing the threat of the 2019-novel coronavirus spread," he said in a statement on Sunday.