SHANGHAI -- China will continuously deepen international cooperation to aid global malaria prevention and control work and advance the goal of a malaria-free world, according to an official of the national disease prevention and control administration.

Malaria used to be a major infectious disease in China. It had the most extensive impact and caused the most serious harm in the country, with a history of at least 3,000 years. Thanks to unremitting efforts, China cut its annual number of reported cases of malaria from over 30 million in the 1940s to zero in 2017.

On June 30, 2021, the World Health Organization officially declared China malaria-free, making it the 40th country in the world to have eliminated malaria.