MEA Secretary lists India's 'timely', 'graded' & 'pro-active' response to COVID-19 at UNGA

Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup while speaking virtually at the UNGA Special session on COVID-19 on Tuesday said that India has emerged as a net provider of health security and successfully shouldered its responsibility as the pharmacy of the world. India has also sent consignments of medicines and medical supplies to almost 150 partner countries, he added. Speaking further at the 31st Special Session of the UN General Assembly, MEA Secretary said that India within 2 months of Coronavirus expanded its diagnostic facility from one major facility for loan-India testing to more than 2,000. 

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MEA Secretary speaks at UN Special Session on COVID-19

Vikas Swarup said, "From having almost no domestic manufacturing of PPE kits, we have become the second-largest manufacturer. More than 17,000 dedicated COVID facilities were set up with 1.6 million isolation beds. Digital tools such as the Aarogya Setu App were developed and are being effectively used for extensive contact tracing." 

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The MEA Secretary said that India's timely, graded and pro-active response to the COVID-19 pandemic and calculated measures were designed to protect the country's huge population and also ensure that minimal damage is caused to the economy. Lauding the efforts of the government, he said that it has been doing its best to ensure that the economy and the livelihoods of people are not hampered. He said, "We announced a massive USD 266 billion stimulus package, amounting to almost 10 per cent of our gross domestic product, directed at helping low-income groups, marginal farmers, small businesses, migrants and those in the informal sector."

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Highlighting that the ongoing crisis has laid bare the gap that exists in global cooperation and governance structures of multilateral organisations, Swarup said that it is very important that the country makes reformed multilateralism its guiding principle. He mentioned that in order to ensure food security, the world's largest food transfer was initiated to give extra ration to 800 million people. Asserting that India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help humanity in fighting the crisis, he said that India will also help all the countries in enhancing their cold chain and storage capabilities for delivery of the vaccine. 

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(With ANI inputs)