PM spells out India’s position on China
I n a recent interview to Newsweek, the Prime Minister, discussing Indo-China relations, commented, “For India, the relationship with China is important and significant.
The novel Coronavirus pandemic, which began in the Hubei province of China, has infected more than 145,100 people and killed over 5,400 worldwide.
India has so far reported 83 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with two deaths in Karnataka and Delhi. According to the Health Ministry, there are at least 66 Indian nationals and 17 foreigners who are confirmed Coronavirus cases.
Delhi has seven cases, all are Indians, of which one person has been discharged.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has now declared Europe as the epicentre of the Coronavirus pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of world combined, apart from China.
More than 132,000 cases of the virus have been reported in 123 countries since it emerged in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference.
Tedros announced that the WHO was launching a coronavirus Solidarity Response Fund. This would to allow people and organisations to contribute to help fund masks, gloves, gowns and goggles for heath workers, as well as diagnostic kits and investment in research and development, including for vaccines.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called upon the SAARC nations to join hands to fight the outbreak. He asked SAARC leaders to help chalk out a “strong strategy to fight Coronavirus”.
“I would like to propose that the leadership of SAARC nations chalk out a strong strategy to fight Coronavirus. We could discuss, via video conferencing, ways to keep our citizens healthy,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
To this, all the nations including Pakistan responded positively and said were ready to cooperate and extend any assistance to deal with the pandemic.
India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka are members of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).
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