Speaking at a meeting of G-20 ministers organised by the grouping’s chair Saudi Arabia via video-conferencing, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday emphasized on the proactive and pre-emptive strategy of India to contain the spread of COVID-19 that includes building exclusive infrastructure for management of coronavirus patients to avoid their intermingling. The ministers held a virtual meeting on Sunday to further coordinate efforts in combating COVID-19. Taking to Twitter Vardhan wrote, “At the G20 virtual meeting, I spoke about our strategy to contain #COVID19 that includes building exclusive infrastructure for management of #coronavirus patients to avoid their intermingling. I also spoke about how we have set up 3 types of dedicated COVID management Centres.” He added that during the meeting he also highlighted that India has began surveillance of flights coming from COVID-19 affected countries before our country reported the first COVID-19 positive case. Taking to Twitter Vardhan wrote, “Attended Video Conference of the Health Ministers of #G20 countries, an international forum for the governments of 19 countries and the European Union, to discuss #COVID19 containment,” he tweeted. “Talking at the #G20 Health Ministers meet about India’s strategic response to #Covid_19, I said that 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 wrote in another tweet. He also added that during the meeting he said that the 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 the collective strength and wisdom to accomplish the unthinkable. “Stressing upon the traditional Indian doctrine of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam -The world is one family’, I said that since the onset of #COVID19 pandemic, India has assumed a leadership role and assisted neighboring countries in a multitude of ways,” he wrote in another tweet. 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. During the meeting, the ministers addressed the need to improve the effectiveness of global health systems by sharing knowledge and closing the gap in response capabilities and readiness. 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.
