Big love: Thai elephants, students send Valentines to virus-hit China

[February 14, 2020]    By Jiraporn Kuhakan
 
 BANGKOK (Reuters) - Some 3,000 students gathered on Friday in Thailand's Ayutthaya province to send Valentine's Day well-wishes to China, which is facing an ongoing coronavirus epidemic.

Elephants join Thai students as they form a heart shape on Valentine's Day to show their support for China in the fight against coronavirus at a school in Ayutthaya, outside Bangkok, Thailand February 14, 2020. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa

"China keep fighting," students and teachers of Jirasat Wittaya School chanted, as they stood with a pair of elephants in a heart formation in a courtyard.

"Now in China the people are feeling anxious and worried, so people from other countries should give them confidence so they can press on," said Liang Jie, a Chinese language teacher at the school from the city of Xiamen, on China's east coast.

"So if the Thais can give us their confidence and support, we will surely be thankful to them."

Thailand has recorded a total of 33 coronavirus cases, but no fatalities so far.

In its latest update, China's National Health Commission said it had recorded 121 new deaths and 5,090 new coronavirus cases on the mainland on Thursday, raising the total of infected to 63,851 people.

(Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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