New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed leaders of SAARC nations over a videoconference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and proposed a COVID-19 emergency fund, which will be based on voluntary contributions from all SAARC members. India can start with an initial offer of 10 million US dollars for this fund,stated Modi.
""As we all know, COVID-19 has recently been classified by the World Health Organisation as a pandemic. So far, our region has listed fewer than 150 cases. But we need to remain vigilant," PM said.We recognise we are in an unknown situation and can not predict with certainty how the situation will unfold further. It will be most valuable for all us to share our perspectives," the prime minister said.
“We are assembling a Rapid Response Team of doctors and specialists in India, along with testing kits and other equipment. They will be on stand-by, to be placed at your disposal, if required. We had set up an Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal to better trace possible virus carriers and the people they contacted. We could share this Disease Surveillance software with SAARC partners, and training on using this,'' he said.
`Looking ahead, we could create a common Research Platform, to coordinate research on controlling epidemic diseases within our South Asian region. The Indian Council of Medical Research can offer help coordinating such an exercise,'' he said. .
"We have made special efforts to reach out to vulnerable groups. We have worked to quickly ramp up capacity in our system including through training our medical staff across the country. We started screening entry into India from mid-January itself, while also gradually increasing restrictions on travel. The step-by-step approach has helped avoid panic. Prepare, but don't panic has been our guiding mantra," Modi said.
Pakisatn
Special Assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister Zafar Mirza, who said Prevent, detect, respond and conduct research along the way has been Pakistan's approach. Zafar added that Prime Minister Imran Khan is personally overseeing the efforts to mitigate Coronavirus. With over 155,000 infections, 5833 deaths and 138 countries involved, no nation and no region on earth can afford to be unresponsive. He said that Pakistan has been alert to the danger and have put in place required protocls and measures for safety of the nationals. We have strongly advised against panic, a calm calulated and deliberate response is the need of the hour.
Bangladesh
The prime minister of Bangladesh proposed that to continue this dialogue at technical level, our Health Ministers, Health Secretaries & health experts should also hold this kind of video conferences to discuss specific areas of cooperation.
Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih backs coordinated approach to deal with COVID-19, says no country can deal with the situation alone. Solih thanked PM Modi for regional initiative to combat COVID-19 challenge.
Sri Lanka
President Gotabaya Rajpaksha of Sri Lanka emphasizes on the need for South Asia to share ideas and best practices in order to face up to the challenge of the rapid spread of the virus. "Our economy has taken serious blow, particularly tourism sector which was just recovering after last years' terrorist attack. I strongly recommend SAARC leaders to formulate mechanism to assist our economies to tide over difficult period," he said.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said that we are in an unknow situation and proposed monitoring the impacts and scenarios saying assumptions from US, China, Iran not suitable. He further proposed to create common framework for telemedicine for SAARC nations.