Coronavirus: Saarc to launch website on sharing info on joint effort

Saarc health professionals have agreed to launch a website to share information, expertise and best practices to prevent spread of coronavirus.

The website will be made in seven days. One focal person would be designated for this from each Saarc country and they will interact among themselves through a WhatsApp group, said officials of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the foreign ministry.

"Some of the information in the website will be made public and some will be for experts of the Saarc countries," a foreign ministry official told The Daily Star.

The decision came at a videoconference among senior health professionals of the eight Saarc countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Professor Abul Kalam Azad, director general of the DGHS, led the health professionals from Bangladesh in the videoconference held today.

It was a follow-up to the Saarc leaders' videoconference on March 15.

During the videoconference, health officials exchanged the status of the coronavirus situation in the regional countries, measures taken and the possible regional cooperation in this regard.

They also discussed specific protocols dealing with screening at entry points, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation facilities, as well as practical joint action on online training capsules for emergency response teams.

"It is India's belief that sharing of resources, expertise, best practices and capacities in these challenging times would go a long way in bringing the countries in the SAARC region closer together," said a statement of Indian foreign ministry.