Medical workers cheer for each other in the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Jan 24, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has confidence and capability to win the battle against the epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday after the World Health Organization declared the pneumonia outbreak in China a public health emergency of international concern.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in an online statement that China will continue working with the WHO and other countries to safeguard regional and global public health security.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Chinese government has been taking the most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measures with a high sense of responsibility for people's health, Hua said.

Many of these measures go well beyond the requirements of the International Health Regulations, she added.

China also informed relevant parties and shared the genome sequence of the coronavirus in a timely manner, which has been recognized and commended by the WHO and many countries, she said.

She noted that China has been in close communication and cooperation with the WHO.

WHO experts recently conducted a field trip to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, and Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has just visited Beijing and discussed containment and mitigation of the 2019-nCoV with the Chinese side, according to Hua.

The WHO chief commended China's efforts and spoke highly of China's contribution to the world by fighting against the novel coronavirus, she said.