People should unite to give coordinated response to COVID-19: Dalai Lama

As the world grapples with coronavirus, the Dalai Lama on Sunday said people should come together to give a "coordinated, global response" to challenges posed by the crisis. The Tibetan spiritual leader also noted that the economic disruption caused by the spread of the virus is posing a major challenge to governments and is undermining the ability of people to make a living.

"This crisis and its consequences serve as a warning that only by coming together in a coordinated, global response, will we meet the unprecedented magnitude of the challenges we face. I pray we all heed 'The Call to Unite',” he said in a statement released by his office here. The Tibetan government-in-exile is based here.

“In this time of crisis, we face threats to our health and sadness for the family and friends we have lost. Economic disruption is posing a major challenge to governments and undermining the ability of so many people to make a living," he said.

The 14th Dalai Lama said people must focus on what unites them as members of one human family and reach out to each other with compassion. "As human beings, we are all the same. We experience the same fears, the same hopes, the same uncertainties, yet we are also united by a desire for happiness. Our human capacity to reason and to see things realistically and clearly give us the ability to transform hardship into opportunity," he said. Coronavirus has so far killed over 2,35,000 people globally.