India has assumed leadership role in fight against COVID-19: Harsh Vardhan at G20

Amid the deadly novel coronavirus pandemic, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday attended a video conference of the Health Ministers of the G20 countries. The virtual meeting was held to further coordinate efforts in combatting and work on a joint response to the coronavirus pandemic. In the meeting, Ministers addressed the need to improve the effectiveness of global health systems by sharing knowledge and closing the gap in response capabilities and readiness.

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During the meeting, Harsh Vardhan said, "Global health crisis being witnessed globally, today, has created an opportunity to dive deep into the nature of what connects us all, while simultaneously providing us collective strength and wisdom to accomplish the unthinkable. We started surveillance of flights coming in from COVID19 affected countries 12 days before we had the first case in India, which was on Jan 30th, 2020."

He also spoke about India's strategy to contain COVID19 that includes building exclusive infrastructure for the management of coronavirus patients to avoid their intermingling and how India has set up three types of dedicated COVID management Centres. Stressing upon the traditional Indian doctrine of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam -The world is one  family’- he said, "Since the onset of COVIDー19 pandemic, India has assumed a leadership role and assisted neighboring countries in a multitude of ways."

Harsh Vardhan also highlighted the effectiveness of imposing lockdown in India and said, "Our case doubling rate which was about 3.4 days on the 17th of March, dropped to 4.4 days by the 25th of March, and is currently about 7.2 days."

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Official statement

The G20 health ministers acknowledged that the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted systemic weaknesses in healthcare systems and vulnerabilities in the global community's ability to prevent and respond to pandemic threats.

"G20 Ministers emphasised that people's health and well-being are at the heart of all decisions taken to protect lives, tackle illness, strengthen global health security, and alleviate the socio-economic impacts resulting from COVID-19," read an official statement following the Health ministers meeting.

"Health Ministers recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted systemic weaknesses in health systems. It also has shown vulnerabilities in the global community's ability to prevent and respond to pandemic threats. Ministers addressed the need to improve the effectiveness of global health systems by sharing knowledge and closing the gap in response capabilities and readiness," it added.

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The meeting also addressed necessary actions to improve pandemic preparedness, the importance of utilizing digital solutions in current and future pandemics, the emphasis on patient safety and the importance of improving value in health systems as well as antimicrobial resistance.

Coronavirus which first emerged in China in late December has spread to the whole world. So far it has killed over 1.9 lakh people and infected over 2 million people.

G20 forum

G20 is an international forum for the governments of 19 countries and the European Union (EU). The 19-member countries of G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America and India. 

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