China expresses welcome and appreciation to the "sincere and friendly understanding, support and help from the international community," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Hua Chunying said many countries, including South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as the UN's children agency UNICEF had donated epidemic control materials to China.

Other nations have also expressed willingness to provide support and assistance. Individuals in many countries have also provided various forms of assistance to China in its fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Hua said China will continue to share information about the outbreak in an open, transparent and responsible manner and strengthen cooperation with the international community, not only to protect Chinese people's lives and health, but also to make efforts and contributions to maintaining global and regional public health security.

Given that U.S. President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union address Tuesday that the U.S. is coordinating with the Chinese government on the coronavirus outbreak, Hua confirmed that China and the U.S. are in close communication on the situation through diplomatic and health channels.

She reaffirmed that the epidemic knows no border and should be handled with concerted efforts.

"We hope the U.S. will adopt an objective, just, calm and rational view, refrain from overreaction, respect and collaborate with China's efforts, and work together with China and the rest of the international community to fight the epidemic and safeguard global public health security," Hua said.