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Renowned Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, a notable coronavirus specialist in China’s battle with COVID-19, has been bestowed with the Medal of the Republic.

A statement, accompanying the award on Tuesday, praised the octogenarian expert as a “brave, outspoken doctor” in recognition of his courage in confronting dangerous diseases and speaking out in the national fight against COVID-19.

Back in January, he publicly announced that the novel coronavirus was transmissible from person to person, alerting society at the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic.

He led the compiling of coronavirus diagnosis and treatment plans and has made great contributions to epidemic prevention and control, treatment of severe cases, and COVID-19 research.

PURSUER OF TRUTH

On January 19, two photos went viral on China’s cyberspace. In one picture, an apparently weary Zhong was dozing on a high-speed train. Another showed two train tickets from Guangzhou to Wuhan on January 18.

These photos sparked a buzz among Chinese netizens, as Zhong earlier called on the public to avoid traveling to Wuhan unless absolutely necessary.

The elderly doctor, however, went directly to Wuhan, where he declared one day later that there was “human-to-human transmission,” a judgment that was critical at times of confusion, and even changed China’s anti-virus cause.

It was not the first time that Zhong stood out and sounded the alarm during a public health emergency. In 2003, he proposed that a novel coronavirus was behind the SARS epidemic, challenging the then prevailing belief that chlamydia was the culprit.

He also pointed out that the spread of the virus in Beijing had not been effectively controlled, telling an inconvenient truth.

He eventually helped move the capital’s epidemic prevention and control efforts onto the right track.

“In science, it is only right to seek truth from facts, and not to play safe, otherwise, patients will be the victims. What is not in books, we explore through practice,” Zhong said in an interview.

“This spirit of seeking truth from facts is his most precious quality,” said Ran Pixin, director of the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases of Guangzhou Medical University.

Ran has been studying and working with Zhong since 1993. “During the epidemic, ordinary Chinese said they would listen to Zhong’s advice when they need to decide on whether to go out or not. It showed people’s genuine trust and appreciation for him,” said Ran.

ENERGETIC DOCTOR
Apart from being a leading coronavirus expert, Zhong is also known as a gallant fighter on anti-virus frontlines and an optimist on China’s ability to tame highly infectious diseases.

During the SARS outbreak, the Guangdong-based doctor saved many lives by carefully formulating therapeutic solutions, which helped the southern Chinese province become one of the regions with the highest cure rate and the lowest mortality rate of SARS patients in the world.

At the end of January, when Wuhan was gripped by the COVID-19 epidemic, Zhong made a proclamation that boosted national morale: “Wuhan has been a heroic city. With the support of the whole country, Wuhan will definitely pass the test.”

On China’s internet, Zhong is famous for another identity: after photos circulated online showing the muscular doctor working out in gyms or playing basketball, he has become an unusual icon in the country’s fitness and sports sector.

Now, at 84, Zhong is still working at the very front lines of medical service. He meets with patients at a local hospital every week. On one afternoon, he sees around 10 patients with difficult and complicated pulmonary diseases. His patients describe him as a considerate doctor, who would warm the stethoscope before use.

Zhong has also kept in close contact with international medical research circles.

In 2009, The Lancet, an international journal of clinical medicine, published the top three papers of 2008, including one led by Zhong that received the highest number of votes.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Zhong has been busy attending international exchanges to introduce China’s anti-virus experience, and discuss the global strategy.

“Because we have gone through a difficult journey, we should support each other and let other countries take fewer detours through exchanges,” he said.
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The Minister of Finance, with powers granted to him by law, and following recommendations of a Tax Policy Committee of July 3, 2020, waived off tax penalties, late payments on interests due to hardships caused by the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in the months of March, April and May and corporate income tax of 2019. Subsequently, the ministry approved applications worth over Rwf5billion submitted by the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA).

This decision came after several other adjustments made to ease tax burdens on businesses. RRA Commissioner-General, Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwali spoke to Taarifa about the rationale behind recent fiscal measures taken, the effect of the pandemic on the tax basket, and plans in place to respond to the impact on the economy.

Below are excerpts.

What informed the decision by RRA to waiver taxes to some taxpayers?

Many taxpayers wrote to RRA requesting to be given a waiver on interest and penalties due to cash flow issues caused by COVID19.  We were also noticing many declarations being made on different taxes but no payment was being made.  

From your own assessment, what is the economic impact of such a decision? 

At the moment, each and every sector of the economy was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic albeit in varying proportions. Granting waivers was a deliberate measure of lessening the impact of COVID-19 on the economy by granting taxpayers an opportunity to recover and focus on stabilizing their businesses and remain afloat.

Were there some taxpayers whose applications were rejected? If yes, why? 

All the businesses that were given a waiver, it was due to hardships they were facing in payment however not all businesses were facing this challenge because some continued to work during the period of COVID-19 lockdown. Therefore, all those that were rejected had no hardship issues since they did not stop working. 

It is obvious COVID-19 has affected your initial tax projections …can you give us a picture of the effect and in numbers?

We ended last Financial Year with a gap of Rwf 74.2 billion. However, if we include the strong performance of the first semester (June-Dec 2019) where we had exceeded the target by Rwf 26billion, we can say COVID-19 impacted the tax collections by Rwf 100.2 billion.

What other tax burdens are you facing now and in the near future? If possible tell us how you intend to go about it. 

Many challenges we are facing rotate around cash flow issues in payment of taxes, some businesses have just opened and are operating at a low percentage. Others are still closed. We know others have tax arrears that they cannot afford to pay. We have also noticed some layoffs of staff in some businesses. RRA is also aware of the complete closure of operations by some businesses.

All these cases affect tax collection in the short run and in the long run, however, we have put in place measures with the support of government to overcome this. First, the waiver for businesses in hardship to be able to pay the principal tax and continue to operate. We are also expanding our tax base by recruiting businesses that were not in the tax net before. RRA has also begun providing other facilities such as installment payments to businesses to be able to pay their tax liabilities in a long period.

Policy-wise, what new changes is RRA making in regards to the effects of COVID-19, apart from waivers?

RRA in conjunction with the ministry has had a mixed range of policies aimed at mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on business in general. One such policy includes the extension of due dates for different taxes like income tax. Another significant policy is to allow businesses to pay their Instalment Quarterly Prepayment (IQPs) basing on current year operations instead of basing on previous years. Some sectors have also benefited from exemptions on paying PAYE for employees earning up to Rwf150,000 (Tourism, hotels, and private schools). Taxpayers were allowed to declare without certified financial statements for a period of three months. Administratively, we expanded the use of online services to limit the movements of our clients. We also suspended the requirement of 25% downward payment admissible for amicable settlements.
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Nitwa Uwera Sabine mfite imyaka 26 ntuye i Kigali. Nakundanye n’umusore turakundana cyane bigera ubwo dutangira gutekereza kuba twabana. Buri gihe iyo icyo kiganiro twatangiraga kukivugaho yahitaga ambwira ko mbere yo gutangira gupanga ubukwe tugomba kubanza kuryamana. Jye nari naramuhakaniye kuko nabyiyumvagamo ko umunsi twaryamanye ashobora kuzahita anyanga. Byakomeje gutyo dukomeza gukundana, ajya kunyerekana iwabo nanjye mwerekana iwacu ibyo byatumye mugirira ikizere mbona ko ankunda by’ukuri. Uretse n’ibyo, ibintu byose yankoreraga byanyerekaga ko ankunda nta buryarya. Maze kubyishyiramo ko twamaze guhuza, twongeye kugira ibiganiro byo kuba twapanga ubukwe, nawe yongera kunsubiriramo ko atapanga ubukwe tutararyamana. Bitewe n’uko nari namaze kumwizera narabyemeye kuko nubundi kuva yaramaze kunyerekana iwabo nari naratangiye kwitwara nk’aho ndi umugore we. Nyuma y’uko turyamanye yanyoherereje ubutumwa ambwira ko adashobora kubana nanjye. Namubajije impamvu ambwira ko kuba ntaraciye imyeyo byerekana ko ntazigera mufata neza mu buriri, ko ntazamushimisha, ko bizatuma ararikira abandi bagore bityo akanca inyuma. Ngo rero icyo yifuza n’ukubana n’umukobwa waciye imyeyo kuko ari byo bizamurinda kujya mu busambanyi. Uretse kuba narabyumvaga gutyo, ibyerekeranye no guca imyeyo nta muntu wundi wari warigeze abinganirizaho muri make sinari mbisobanukiwe kuko sinagize amahirwe yo kubana n’ababyeyi banjye, bitabye Imana nkiri muto, wenda bo bari kuba barabinsobanuriye. Ubu rero ndashaka umuntu twakundana tukibanira we akankunda by’ukuri kandi akanyizeza ko atazanca inyuma kandi ko atazanziza icyo kintu. Habaye hari uhari yanyandikira inbox.

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